SvennoJ said:
While on the one side we're getting the death rate down, on the other, long term symptoms seem to be more widespread than previously thought.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/almost-a-third-of-people-with-mild-covid-19-still-battle-symptoms-months-later-study-finds-1.5316239 A new research letter published Friday in the journal JAMA Network Open is shedding new light on the condition. Researchers from the University of Washington followed 177 people with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection for up to nine months -- the longest follow-up to date. Notably, this group included 150 outpatients, who had "mild" disease and were not hospitalized. They found that 30 per cent of respondents reported persistent symptoms. The most common were fatigue and loss of smell or taste. More than 30 per cent of respondents reported worse quality of life compared to before getting sick. And 14 participants (8 per cent) -- including nine people who had not been hospitalized -- reported having trouble performing at least one usual activity, such as daily chores.
The researchers wrote that with 57.8 million cases worldwide, "even a small incidence of long-term debility could have enormous health and economic consequences."
A much larger study, published in early January in The Lancet, found that of 1,733 coronavirus patients treated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, 76 per cent were still experiencing at least one symptom six months after their symptoms began. But this group was made up entirely of hospitalized patients.
Stress can cause a lot symptoms as well yet some things are too specific like loss of smell and taste.
As for what is causing those symptoms, Sandrock points to several culprits. Some might be caused by the complications of an extended hospital or ICU stay, which is known to be hard on the body and have lasting effects. Some could be triggered by microvascular disease -- damage to the capillaries, which Sandrock says is behind many symptoms, from chest pain to "COVID toes" to fatigue and even brain fog. Some symptoms could be set off by an autoimmune response triggered by high levels of inflammation, such as joint and body aches, sleep disturbances, depression and fatigue. And some could be as a direct infection by the virus, such as loss of smell and/or taste, according to Sandrock. |
