2023-09-21 18:45:31
“The WHO declared in the spring that the pandemic emergency is over. And there are people who think that COVID-19 is gone and that long COVID does not exist,” says Dr. Pavlos Bobos, one of the many researchers who attended the first Canadian symposium on long COVID, in Montreal, Wednesday and Thursday. And yet, thousands of Canadians are still living with persistent symptoms.
This number of cases of long COVID, which is when symptoms persist more than 12 weeks following initial infection, continues to increase as people are reinfected.
This is also what was confirmed by Dr. Sara Carazo, an epidemiologist from the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ), who presented preliminary data from a large epidemiological study on the impacts of Long COVID on health care workers in Quebec. More than 23,000 of them were surveyed this summer.
According to preliminary results, the risk of developing post-COVID syndrome, commonly known as long COVID, is 16%.
At the time of the study, 10% of healthcare workers reported symptoms more than 12 weeks following infection. Of these, a third had severe symptoms and more than half had had symptoms for more than a year.
If the risk of developing post-COVID syndrome has decreased slightly with the new variants (12% compared to 26% at the start of the pandemic) and since access to the vaccine, the majority of people who say they have persistent symptoms have been infected by the Omicron variant, i.e. from January 2022.
Workers who have been hospitalized are more likely to have three or more symptoms in the long term, adds Dr. Carazo. Reinfection is also associated with an increased risk of developing post-COVID-19 syndrome.
The two most commonly reported symptoms are fatigue and shortness of breath.
About 70% of people say their symptoms impact their work; just over 15% say they have difficulty working.
Half of these workers consulted a doctor; almost 20% sought help from a specialist.
Post-COVID-19 syndrome is underestimated. We must assess the impact that this syndrome has on the labor shortage.
Access to care remains difficult
The researchers at this symposium all reported that the number of patients seeking help is not decreasing.
Dr. Emilia Falcone, director of the IRCM Post-COVID-19 Research Clinic, says she alone has received 4,000 requests from patients hoping to participate in her study. I didn’t sleep at night thinking I mightn’t help them all
she testified.
Dr. Alain Piché, professor-researcher at the University of Sherbrooke, is currently following 500 patients. It’s just me and a nurse for everyone
he said, adding that more than 400 people are on a waiting list to get follow-up with him.
And if Quebec has finally opened 14 post-COVID clinics, several of them are understaffed. The majority of these clinics do not have a doctor
deplores Dr. Piché.
Several of the experts at the symposium lamented the fact that too many people have gone undiagnosed following months of suffering or have been misdiagnosed.
Many patients have wandered through the medical system for a long time. Their diagnosis is delayed. We see erroneous diagnoses; many patients are diagnosed with a mental health problem. There is still a lot of ignorance among the front line regarding long COVID. It is a problem.
Dr. Piché agrees, however, that the diagnosis of long COVID is not easy to establish. Symptoms can be confused with different conditions
he explains.
Remember that this syndrome is associated with approximately 200 symptoms affecting at least 10 organs, including the brain, heart, lungs and blood vessels.
Dr. Anne Bhéreur, who still lives with many severe symptoms since her infection in December 2020 in the palliative care setting where she worked, believes that the medical community must listen more to patients, who, in many cases, feel isolated and misunderstood.
The first step is to recognize the existence of long COVID, to recognize the complexity of the disease and to say that we do not yet have all the answers
insists Dr. Bhéreur.
A still mysterious syndrome
It’s not for nothing that there are currently dozens of studies across the country trying to better understand the biological mechanisms of long COVID and find ways to treat the disease, and not just the symptoms.
Since governments restricted access to PCR tests, many people who believe they are suffering from long COVID have had difficulty demonstrating that their symptoms are indeed linked to their infection. That’s why a Toronto researcher is working to identify biomarkers that can confirm a diagnosis of long COVID.
Other researchers are trying to use artificial intelligence to try to detect people who may have this syndrome without knowing it.
Other researchers are looking at the risks of long COVID in children. If the prevalence is lower among young people, the disease nevertheless exists, recalls Dr Piushkumar Mandhane.
There is an interest, a curiosity in wanting to identify all the uncertainties
says Dr. Carole Jabet, scientific director of the Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé (FRQS), who organized this first symposium on long COVID.
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