Covid’s symptoms can last at least 6 months, suggests a new study by Wuhan

Covid’s symptoms can last at least 6 months, suggests a new study by Wuhan

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The study of more than 1,700 patients treated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic, shows that 76% suffered at least one symptom months after they were discharged from the hospital.

The findings indicate that even people recovering from Covid-19 can suffer long-term health impacts due to the coronavirus attack, which has infected more than 90 million people worldwide.

The study, the largest of its kind ever, was published on Friday in the medical journal The Lancet. He found that fatigue and sleeping difficulties were the most common symptoms after Covid-19, occurring in 63% and 26% of patients, respectively, six months after starting the initial diagnosis.

The disease can also have long-term psychological complications, with anxiety or depression reported among 23% of patients, the study found.

Patients who were more seriously ill tend to have continuous evidence of lung damage on radiographs, according to the researchers.

“Because Covid-19 is such a new disease, we are just beginning to understand some of its long-term effects on patients’ health,” Dr. Bin Cao, of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital and Capital Medical University, who led the study team said in a statement.

“Our analysis indicates that the majority of patients continue to live with at least some of the effects of the virus after hospital discharge and highlights the need for post-discharge care, especially for those with severe infections. Our work also highlights the importance of driving longer follow-up studies in larger populations in order to understand the full spectrum of effects that Covid-19 can have on people, “said the statement.

Long-term health effects of Covid-19

Scientists around the world are studying the long-lasting effects of the virus, commonly called “long Covid” symptoms.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists fatigue, shortness of breath, coughing, joint pain and chest pain as the most commonly reported long-term symptoms. Others, such as difficulty thinking and concentrating – known as “brain fog”, depression and headache, are also reported among long-distance coronaviruses.

“Although most people with Covid-19 recover and return to normal health, some patients may experience symptoms that can last for weeks or even months after recovery from acute illness. Even people who are not hospitalized and have mild illness may experience persistent symptoms or late symptoms, “says the US CDC.

A study published in the British Medical Journal in August found that about 10% of patients had a prolonged Covid-19 disease lasting more than 12 weeks.

But the Chinese study is the largest, with the longest follow-up period, to investigate the long-term impact on patients discharged, according to its authors.

Wuhan's Jinyintan Hospital is the world's first medical facility designed to treat patients with Covid-19.

The study patients, with a median age of 57, were discharged between January 7 and May 29, 2020, from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, a designated Covid-19 unit that treated the first known people in the world to contract the disease in December 2019.

In total, the study included 70% of all Covid-19 patients who were discharged in that period, after excluding those who died, who were unable to participate due to serious mental or physical conditions and who refused to participate.

All participants were interviewed with a series of questionnaires to assess symptoms. They also underwent physical examinations, a six-minute walk test and blood tests, the study said.

Unexpectedly, 13% of patients who did not appear to have acute kidney injury while hospitalized exhibited signs of kidney dysfunction.

Almost half a million people may have had Covid-19 in Wuhan, the study shows. That's almost 10 times the official number
However, a team of researchers from the Pharmacological Research Institute in Bergamo, Italy, who were not involved in the study, wrote in a commentary on The Lancet that the results “should be interpreted with caution” as there were limits to how the path was measured . ”

However, the findings on fatigue, sleep difficulties and anxiety or depression are in line with previous research, following patients who had a related coronavirus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and 2004, according to Chinese researchers.

A follow-up study of SARS survivors showed that 40% of patients had symptoms of chronic fatigue more than three years after infection, the researchers said.

Another study showed that 38% of SARS survivors had evidence of lung damage 15 years later, researchers at the Institute for Pharmacological Research noted in their comment.

Growing outbreak of coronavirus

China largely contained the initial coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan in March and has been able to contain sporadic local outbreaks in its territory since then.

But it is now facing the country’s worst coronavirus outbreak in months in Hebei province, north of the capital Beijing, just weeks before the Lunar New Year festival – the most important time for family reunion in China.

A year after Wuhan, China blocked another city of 11 million to contain an outbreak of coronavirus
Last week, the province conducted mass testing of coronavirus on 13 million people in the cities of Shijiazhuang and Xingtai, which identified 364 positive cases, Hebei officials said at a news conference on Sunday afternoon.

Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital and epicenter of the ongoing outbreak, was placed under a rigid block last week. Residents were prevented from leaving the city, as the main highways were blocked, train and bus stations closed and flights canceled.

In the city, public transport and schools were suspended, and residential communities and villages were also closed, with residents forced to stay home for seven days after completing coronavirus tests.

On Sunday, Hebei province detected 82 cases of Covid-19 transmitted locally, with 77 reported in Shijiazhuang and five in Xingtai, according to the National Health Commission of China.

Local coronavirus infections are also being reported in several cities in northern China, including Beijing and in the provinces of Liaoning and Heilongjiang.
In Beijing, a driver hitchhiking online was identified as an asymptomatic case on Saturday, prompting authorities to track 144 passengers in his car. As of Monday, all passengers must present a QR code of the Beijing Covid-19 health app on their smartphones, before being allowed to enter any taxi or car.

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