Recently, there have been more and more discussions about the sequelae of the new crown, and on Weibo, you will also sing and I will appear:
Image source: Weibo screenshot
We are more and more aware of the new crown virus. In case of infection, what many friends are eager to know is – what is the probability of appearingnew crown sequelae?
Let’s talk about what “sequelae” is.
According to the general understanding of everyone, it means that you have been cured of a certain disease, but there are still some minor problems after a period of time, which is called “sequelae”.
After being infected with the new crown, some patients will still have some symptoms after a few months. We can simply understand these as the new crown sequelae, which are called “Long COVID” or “Post-COVID conditions” abroad. more.
To be precise, it would be more appropriate to call it a long-term symptom of the new crown than a “sequelae.”
Current research has found that COVID-19 is not just a problem with the lungs. Long-term symptoms can occur in multiple organs and systems of the body.
But don’t panic, long-term symptoms are not unique to the new crown infection, and many respiratory infectious diseases may have long-term symptoms. Like the well-known flu, the flu itself also has long-term symptoms.
According to a study published last year in the United States, about 42% of people with COVID-19 and 30% of people with the flu reported having at least one symptom 3 to 6 months after infection.
What are the long-term symptoms?
How often?
The results of a survey of the sequelae of Covid-19 in the UK involving more than 26,000 people with Covid-19 should be one of the largest studies of long-term symptoms of Covid-19 to date.
Unlike some of the previous studies, this study had a “control group,” which was critical.
Many long-term symptoms of COVID-19 are also common in daily life.For infected people, symptoms appearing weeks or even months after infection, Not necessarily directly related to the new coronavirus infection.
Having a control group can help remove these distractions and allow us to better analyze the real problems posed by COVID-19.
Image source: References
Findings (emphasis added):
9.4% of infected individuals developed symptoms 4 to 8 weeks after infection (compared to 4.1% in the control group);
At 12 to 16 weeks after infection, 5.0% of infected people developed symptoms (compared to 3.4% in the control group).
The probability of developing symptoms in the infected group decreased gradually over time, while the control group was basically the same (with some fluctuations due to factors such as season, weather, and social activity).
Specific long-term symptoms include:
Anxiety/depression had the highest rates in relative terms, but pain manifestations were the most persistent and more pronounced in women and younger patients.
Other long-term symptoms that may have been mentioned, including hair loss, sexual dysfunction, etc., went undetected.
In addition, scientists have identified long-term symptoms that are characteristic of some populations:
1. Children are less likely to experience long-term symptoms than adults
For the 50- to 69-year-old group, the probability of developing symptoms 12 to 16 weeks after infection was 5.8%, compared with 3.0% for 12- to 16-year-old children, 2- 11-year-olds were even lower than the control group (3.2% vs 4.1%).
2. Women outnumber men
At 12 to 16 weeks after infection, for example, women have a 5.4% chance of developing long-term symptoms compared to 4.5% of men.
3. People with underlying diseases are higher than those without underlying diseases
Still taking 12 to 16 weeks after infection as an example, the former is 7.4% and the latter is 4.5%.
4. Long-term symptoms are more pronounced in infected people with obvious initial symptoms and high viral load
In general, some people who are infected develop long-term symptoms 12 to 16 weeks after infection. Women, adults 50-69 years old, people with pre-existing medical conditions, and people with high viral load and severe infection at the time of infection have a relatively higher proportion of long-term symptoms.
What about Omicron’s long-term symptoms?
Some friends may still have questions. This research data comes from the original strain, Alpha, Delta, etc.-is there any Omicron?
This is a good question.
I have to admit that there is currently a lack of accurate data on the long-term symptoms of Omicron around the world, and more follow-up research is needed on its long-term symptoms, but there are currently some The research data on the severity of symptoms after Mikron infection:
In general, it is consistent with other previous studies: Omicron infected patients have more upper respiratory tract symptoms and less lower respiratory tract symptoms, and the more significant changes are sore throat and runny nose An increase in the ratio and a decrease in the loss of taste/smell ratio.
In particular, loss of taste/smell, which had previously received much attention, dropped from 44% to 13% now.
According to previous data, the initial infection symptoms are not severe, and the long-term symptoms are not too severe. It is reasonable to infer that the appearance of Omicron will further reduce the long-term symptoms of the new crown as a whole.
So from the current research, the so-called “sequelae” of the new crown does exist. Many long-term symptoms may also appear after other respiratory viruses (such as influenza), and the new crown is not that special. .
In general, the long-term symptoms of the new crown are not as severe, and the incidence rate is not as high as everyone thought at first, especially among children, considering the Omic Rong’s symptoms are milder than the previous strains, and you really don’t need to panic too much about long-term symptoms.
A number of studies also show that the more severe the infection, the higher the rate of long-term symptoms. These long-term symptoms also decrease over time.
Fortunately, for those of us who have been battling the new crown virus for two years, there are already many ways to reduce the risk of severe disease after the unfortunate infection of the new crown virus.
The easiest part is getting vaccinated.
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References
[1] Taquet M, Dercon Q, Luciano S, et al. Incidence, co-occurrence, and evolution of long-COVID features: A 6-month retrospective cohort study of 273,618 survivors of COVID-19[J]. PLoS medicine, 2021, 18(9): e1003773.
[2] Ayoubkhani D, Pawelek P, Gaughan C. Technical article: Updated estimates of the prevalence of post-acute symptoms among people with coronavirus (COVID-19) in the UK: 26 April 2020 to 1 August 2021[J]. Office for National Statistics, 2021.
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