68 per cent of the long Covid patients continued to struggle with symptoms in the second year
Nearly two-thirds of those with long Covid continue to struggle
with symptoms, including a reduced capacity for exercise and cognitive
function, in the second year of illness, a study has found.
Researchers, including those from Ulm
University, Germany, studied over 1,500 people aged 18-65 years who were
identified as having post-Covid-19 syndrome, or long Covid, which refers to the
symptoms persisting despite having recovered from acute infection.
The participants had been previously
surveyed for complaints and symptoms they were experiencing after the acute
phase of infection had passed and were either diagnosed with long Covid or had
not developed the condition.
The study, published in the journal
PLoS Medicine, found that 68 per cent of the long Covid patients continued to
struggle with symptoms in the second year -- most common ones being fatigue,
neurocognitive disturbances, breathlessness and psychiatric ones, including
anxiety, depression and sleep problems.
Among these patients with continued
illness, the authors also found "significant reductions in handgrip
strength, maximal oxygen consumption, and ventilatory efficiency".
Maximal oxygen consumption' refers to amounts of the gas used by a
person during intense exercise, while 'ventilatory efficiency' indicates how
well one's body exchanges oxygen and carbon dioxide while performing physical
activity.
Further, over a third of the 68 per cent
also reported a reduced capacity for exercise, with a worsening of symptoms
after performing physical activity, and were found to have "worse outcomes
and more severe symptoms".
The authors said that while previous
studies have described the health problems one might experience following
Covid-19 infection, the long-term course of the disease, in the context of long
Covid-19, is unknown.
"In this study, we observed that the
majority of working-age patients with PCS did not recover in the second year of
their illness. Patterns of reported symptoms remained essentially similar,
non-specific and dominated by fatigue, exercise intolerance and cognitive
complaints," they wrote.
Further, the authors noted "grave
symptoms with mental and physical exercise dysfunction, but no laboratory
markers in Long Covid/post-Covid syndrome".
The findings "call for the inclusion
of cognitive and exercise testing in the clinical evaluation and monitoring of
patients with suspected (long Covid)", the authors wrote.
They urged for more observational studies with longer follow-ups
that can help evaluate factors for improvement and non-recovery from long
Covid.
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