How many of those infected with the new coronavirus have sequelae? How long does it last?

I believe that everyone has heard of the sequelae of the new crown, also known as the long-term symptoms of the new crown. Some people think that this is the patent of severely ill patients, some people think that not many people have it, and others I feel that the long-term symptoms of the new crown will be useless for a lifetime.

What is the truth then?

For the sequelae of the new crown, the official definition of sequelae given by the WHO is the symptoms that last for more than two months and cannot be explained by having other diseases. And these symptoms plague many people who have recovered from the new crown.

Long-term symptoms of COVID-19 are not exclusive to critically ill patients

As early as February 2021, the University of Washington released the results of a survey that found that mild symptoms can also have long-term symptoms.

Among the study respondents, 11 (6.2%) were asymptomatic, 150 (84.7%) were mild, and 16 (9.0%) were moderate or severe requiring hospitalization disease. Few of them also had health problems prior to infection, with just 13 percent having high blood pressure, 5 percent having diabetes and 4.5 percent being active smokers.

But ultimately, about 30% of patients report persistent symptoms (more than moderate-to-severe patients), and the proportion increases with age:

Approximately 27% of patients between the ages of 18 and 39 reported persistent symptoms, compared with 30% of patients between the ages of 40 and 64, and those 65 and older 43% of patients.

The most common persistent symptoms were fatigue (13.6%) and loss of smell or taste (13.6%), with about 13% reporting other symptoms, including brain fog symptoms (2.3%) .

PS: Brain fog refers to a collection of symptoms including troublesome cognitive symptoms such as memory loss, confusion, difficulty concentrating, dizziness, and forgetting everyday words.

And a recent Oxford University study also found that after excluding hospitalized COVID-19 patients, the brains of mildly ill patients were still found to target smell and cognition relative to those without the infection There are obvious changes in the difference, as well as cognitive function decline, corresponding to the performance of the sense of smell disappearance/disappearance, memory/attention and so on.

It can be seen that people with mild illness also have long-term symptoms, but studies have also found a higher proportion of people with severe illness (usually their age).

Rate of long-term symptoms of COVID-19 not determined

Current research results on the proportion of long-term symptoms of COVID-19 vary widely.

In a paper published in August 2020 by Italian researchers who followed patients diagnosed between April 21 and May 29, 2020, 60 days later, 87% still showed The most common symptoms were fatigue (53.1%), dyspnea (43.4%), arthralgia (27.3%) and chest pain (21.7%).

In a paper published in March 2021, researchers from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Sweden followed up patients diagnosed with new crowns from March 25 to June 30, 2020, It was found that 13.3% had symptoms lasting ≥28 days, 4.5% had symptoms lasting ≥56 days, and 2.6% had symptoms lasting ≥84 days. The most common were fatigue and intermittent headaches in 97.7% and 91.2% of “patients with symptoms lasting ≥28 days,” respectively.

In February 2022, researchers in the UK reviewed 18 articles published between January 1, 2021 and November 6, 2021, on the “results of following patients with COVID-19 for at least 1 year” The paper conducted a meta-analysis of studies from China, Italy, Spain, and Germany, and finally found that after 1 year, the long-term symptoms with higher prevalence were:

Fatigue/weakness 28%, arthralgia 26%, depression 23%, anxiety 22%, memory loss/memory complaining/amnesia 19%, shortness of breath/dyspnea 18%, concentration Difficulty concentrating 18%, insomnia/difficulty sleeping 12%, joint pain 10%.

Most long-term symptoms still disappear over time, and a Danish study of long-term symptoms in children found that at least 54-75% of children were within 1-5 months Symptoms disappeared.

The long-term symptoms of new crown patients have many manifestations. Although the proportion of occurrence in different studies is high and low, it can be determined that fatigue is the most common symptom, and shortness of breath is more common. / Difficulty breathing, pain, etc.

Long-term symptoms after infection are not unique to COVID-19

I believe many people are wondering, are long-term symptoms seen in other infectious diseases?

The answer is yes.

In studies such as Epstein-Barr virus, Dengue virus, Chikungunya virus, Ebola virus, K. berghei (the causative agent of Q fever), and Giardia, documented Between 10% and 35% of adolescents or adults generally complain of post-infection fatigue that lasts 6 months or longer.

However, I have not been able to find research on long-term symptoms of influenza. Most of the current research supports that young people with normal immune system have symptoms within 3-7 days after contracting the flu, and a few patients will persist. 2 weeks or more.

Long-term symptoms of COVID-19 need to be recognized correctly

The reason why we need to pay attention to the long-term symptoms of new crown patients is because the number of people infected with new crown is large, and the long-term incidence rate is not low, such a large population must be accompanied by medical appeals; There are also some patients who have been unable to return to work in the short term because of long-term symptoms.

And this is also a process of learning about the new coronavirus, knowing these can help people who are suffering from long-term symptoms recover, and also help us to better defend against the new coronavirus.

But we don’t have to equate all long-term symptoms with permanent sequelae, nor do we have to exaggerate their impact, put them in perspective, and address them.

For example, the sense of smell and taste decreased/disappeared. With the extension of follow-up time, the prevalence rate decreased, indicating that there will be gradual recovery. In the British meta-analysis, the follow-up time was 1 year. , the prevalence of hyposmia/loss of smell was 6%; and if the follow-up time was limited to 3 months, in another study, after a meta-analysis, the prevalence of hyposmia/loss of smell was as high as 37%. Compared with the two, it has decreased by 84% after 1 year.

I hope we can overcome the epidemic soon.

The cover image comes from Qiantu.com