One in three Covid-19 patients suffers long-term effects, new study finds

This article, which summarizes various research works recently published on the subject, points to exhaustion, shortness of breath, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder as the most common symptoms in patients. with “long Covid”.

“Given the millions of people infected with Sars-CoV-2 around the world, the long-term burden on physical, cognitive and mental health remains in front of us. We are probably only detecting the tip of the iceberg,” The lead author of the article, Kartik Sehgal, a medical oncologist and professor at Harvard School of Medicine (Boston) told AFP.

Covid-19 mainly attacks the lungs of patients, sometimes with breathing difficulties that persist in the long term. But studies have shown that the virus also attacks other organs, causing complications ranging from cardiovascular problems to chronic inflammation.

The article published in the journal Nature Medicine analyzed nine studies conducted in Europe, the United States and China, which followed patients over the long term.

An Italian study concludes that out of 143 patients, nearly 90% present at least one symptom, and more than half, several, two months after their discharge from the hospital.

The most common symptoms are severe fatigue (53.1%), shortness of breath (43.4%), pain in the joints (27.3%) or in the chest (21.7%).

According to three studies carried out in France, the United Kingdom and China, 25% to 30% of patients report sleep disorders several weeks after recovering from the acute phase of Covid. About 20% mention hair loss, according to several articles.

The results in terms of mental health are just as worrying: out of 402 Italian patients, one month after discharge from hospital, 56% had been diagnosed with at least one psychiatric problem (post-traumatic stress disorder for around 30% of them, depression, anxiety …)

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