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DUBLIN, Sept. 19 – More than half of Covid-19 patients and staff monitored by an Irish hospital suffered persistent fatigue as a result of the initial illness, according to a new study yesterday highlighting the “significant burden” of symptoms persistent.
It comes as groups of patients and doctors call for more research on the medium and long-term effects of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which has sickened more than 30 million people worldwide and killed at least 943,000. .
“While the presenting characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been well characterized, the medium and long-term consequences of the infection remain unexplored,” said Liam Townsend, St James’s Hospital and Trinity Translational Medicine Institute. from Trinity College Dublin.
The study, which followed 128 participants at St James’s Hospital, found that 52 percent reported persistent fatigue when assessed an average of 10 weeks after “clinical recovery” from infection, regardless of the severity of the initial infection. .
The preliminary study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, included 71 people who had been admitted to the hospital and 57 hospital employees who had a mild illness. The average age was 50 and all the participants had tested positive for Covid-19.
The researchers looked at a variety of potential factors, including the severity of the initial illness and pre-existing conditions, including depression.
They found that it didn’t matter whether a patient had been hospitalized or not.
However, they found that women, despite representing just over half of the participants (54 percent), accounted for two-thirds of those with persistent fatigue (67 percent).
Those with a history of anxiety or depression were also found to be more likely to have fatigue.
The authors said the findings showed that more work was needed to assess the long-term impact of Covid-19 on patients.
“Our findings demonstrate a significant post-viral fatigue load in people with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection after the acute phase of Covid-19 disease,” they concluded.
‘Long Covid’
The study, which will be presented at the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Conference on coronavirus disease (ECCVID) later this month, suggested that those affected are “worthy of further study and early intervention.”
As the pandemic has made its way across the globe, most of the attention has focused on the immediate impact, measured by hospital admissions and deaths.
But it has become increasingly clear that the virus can reverberate long after the patient has “recovered.”
Online support groups from around the world have attracted thousands of members seeking help and advice on ongoing illnesses.
In July, a study of recovered hospital patients in Italy found that 87 percent still suffered from at least one symptom 60 days after becoming ill. Fatigue and breathing difficulties were the most common.
Researchers at King’s College London, which is behind a large-scale symptom tracking project, estimate that one in 10 people who use the app still have symptoms after 30 days, and some remain unwell for months.
“We are seeing more and more evidence of ‘prolonged Covid’ and fatigue is one of the commonly reported side effects. This study highlights that fatigue was experienced in both hospitalized patients and those with milder initial presentations, ”said Michael Head of the University of Southampton, commenting on the latest research.
“The emerging spread of protracted Covid is the reason why it is important to reduce community transmission, even among younger groups of people who are not immediately seriously ill.” – AFP-Relaxnews
