sequelae for half of patients in intensive care

A new study has just revealed that half of Covid-19 patients admitted to intensive care had sequelae.

The pandemic of Covid-19 just returned via a new wave. The fact that the French government has lifted the main health restrictions has also greatly endangered the population. A new study by researchers from the University Hospital Center (CHU) of Toulouserelayed by the newspaper La Depechehas just pointed out that half of the infected people admitted to intensive care had sequelae.

Sequelae for Covid-19 patients admitted to intensive care

In detail, we learn that researchers from the Toulouse University Hospital followed whether these patients had retained “physical disorders (pain, mobility problems, loss of autonomy)”, if they had been “placed under circulatory and respiratory assistance (ECMO), if they had retained motor deficits”, but also the disorders “disorders of loss of taste, smell, appetite, the psychological consequences and their nutritional state”, details Dr Fanny Bounes, anesthetist-resuscitator in the multipurpose resuscitation department of thehospital Rangueil, and secretary of the resuscitation committee of the French Society of Anesthesia and Resuscitation (SFAR).

Even if the post-resuscitation syndrome is still difficult to foresee, the study shows all the same without ambiguity that the latter has an impact on the quality of life of the patients. Dr. Fanny Bounes details as follows: “In 7 out of 10 cases, following six months, patients present with depressive syndromes, 10% have anxiety disorders and 10% post-traumatic stress disorder”. To reach these conclusions, the researchers questioned more than 200 patients from the Toulouse University Hospital as part of “a study carried out by the Nantes University Hospital on pain three months following leaving intensive care”.

The resuscitator pursues in particular the objective that a multidisciplinary follow-up course can be proposed at the end of resuscitation. “Clearly, before Covid, few people were interested in post-resuscitation syndrome. We knew these disorders in patients who entered intensive care following a flu, a accident, sepsis. When they got home, they mightn’t go back to work, mightn’t drive, had memory problems. This period has highlighted these risks of sequelae, ”she underlines.