Coronervirus study: Effects Feel After a Year

A new study proves that even those who have passed the infection and are officially healed are often not only healthy. Muscle pain, fatigue, psychiatric problems such as fear and depression are among the most frequent long-term consequences of a SARS-CoV-2 infection, researchers write in the results published in the science magazine, “Lancet”

According to the study, nearly two thirds of patients treated in hospitals, even six months after acute illness, suffer from various symptoms. Our “Analysis shows, that most patients, after leaving the hospital, have to live with at least some of the effects of the virus and underline the need of post care - COVID-19, especially for those who have passed serious infection”, says Bin Cao, one of the authors of the study and deputy director of the National Clinical Centre for Hospital Disease.

Scientists observed 1733 infected people who had passed the infection on January 7th and May 29, 2020, at Jin Yin-tan Hospital in the town of Wuhan. Patients averaged 57, 52% of them were men, 48% women. Most patients (1172) had needed oxygen.

By mid - June and early September last year, patients were checked again. Scientists found with the help of questionnaires, laboratory values, and body capacity tests that 76% of them at least showed a symptom, which accompanied the patient since the infection.

tired and Weak

63% reported feeling muscle weakness and fatigue, while 26% had trouble sleeping, feeling fear or depression. Scientists were noted that women had to struggle with psychic problems rather than men.

The laboratory tests also showed that 13% of patients who had had normal kidney function while staying in the hospital showed a reduced kidney function in later examinations. In patients who are seriously ill, however, a limited lung function was observed a few months after the illness, and an insufficient oxygen supply was noted.

The study of Chinese scientists agrees with the results of other research on the effects of COVID-19, but other scientists also note weak points.

More Scientific Research Needed

So for example, the study was relatively low in attendance of testors with lung or heart disease. The data on this is not based on researchers' research, but on patients themselves. There may have been wrong estimates here. Also infected with slight symptoms have not been part of the surveyed contingent, because this group was not sent to Jin Yin-tan Hospital but to other hospitals.

This fact may not give an accurate number of those who suffer from the long-term effects of a COVID” infection, says Jördis Frommhold, director of the Department for Breathing and Allergy Diseases at the MEDIAN Clinic, in Heilimendam. This clinic provides physical rehabilitation for patients who have passed COVID's disease.

According to Frommhold, there is a third group among patients who almost fail to notice the infection and those who are completely healthy after it. These patients have a mild development of the disease, stay perhaps for a while in the hospital, and show specific symptoms in just one or three months, she says. Even Frommhold notes as Chinese researchers that patients show fatigue or muscle weakness after infection. But Frommhold has seen patients with neurological problems, joint pain and hair loss. But everyone has a common one: they're very insecure because they don't understand what's going on with their body.

More Studies for More Help

So Frommhold is pleased with any study on the long - term effects of the COVID-19. Most of the 300 people, who have so far been for physical rehabilitation at her clinic, are between 30 and 65 years of age and are unable to return fully to work and do not enjoy full health.

„People who have passed infection with minor symptoms and later suffer delayed symptoms often don't know where to turn”, says Frommhold. Family doctors often cannot help, and subsequent treatment offers are available only to those who have experienced severe infection. It says that it is very important to explain which symptoms may appear”. For this reason scientists from Vuhan seek to conduct long - term studies in larger groups of sick people to understand the entire spectrum of consequences that COVID-19 can leave on humans. / DW/