A new study on Long Covid has revealed the course of the disease two years after the coronavirus infection: what has been discovered
By: VirgilioNotizie | Posted on: 12-05-2022 10:57
There is a new discovery on Covid: a study just published in ‘The Lancet Respiratory Medicine’ revealed that even two years after contracting the Covid-19 infection, half of the patients who were hospitalized at the time have still at least one symptom.
The study on Long Covid in question, having followed patients since the beginning of the pandemic, represents the research with the longest follow up to date ever published.
Details of the new Long Covid study
The study recently published in ‘The Lancet Respiratory Medicine’ followed 1,192 patients in China infected with Sars-Cov-2 during the first phase of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and hospitalized in Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic, between 7 January 2020 and May 29, 2020. All the volunteers were visited 6 months, one year and two years after their discharge.
Long Covid, the most common ailments
The new Long Covid study suggests that Covid-19 patients tend to have poorer health and quality of life than the general population.
The analysis found that about half of the study participants experienced symptoms of Long Covid, such as fatigue e sleep difficultiesafter 2 years and experienced a poorer quality of life and a poorer ability to exercise, major mental health problems it’s a increased use of health services compared to those without symptoms of Long Covid.
More precisely, the study showed that the improvements were seen regardless of the initial severity of the disease: 6 months after recovery, the 68% of patients reported at least one symptom, while the percentage dropped to 55% after 2 years.
Medical staff engaged in the fight against Covid, in an archive photo.
Long Covid study: the expert speaks
The lead author of the Long Covid study, Professor Bin Caoof the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, said: “Our findings indicate that, for a certain percentage of Covid-19 survivors admitted to hospital, it takes more than 2 years to fully recover.”
Bin Cao also explained that “the continuous follow-up of Covid-19 survivors, especially those with Long Covid symptoms, is essential to understand the long-term course of the disease, as well as to better analyze the benefits of the programs. of rehabilitation “.
The expert’s conclusion: “There is a clear need to provide ongoing support to a significant percentage of people who have had Covid-19 and to understand how vaccines, emerging treatments and variants affect long-term health outcomes. “.
Photo source: ANSA