A study of more than 1,200 patients hospitalized in Wuhan, China with covid-19 shows that some hospital patients still suffer from sequelae a year after their hospital stay.
For this study, published in The Lancet, researchers from the National Center for Respiratory Medicine of China followed 1,276 patients who were discharged from a hospital in Wuhan between January and May 2020. They assessed their state of health 6 months and then 12 months after discharge from the hospital. . “Although most of the symptoms disappeared after 12 months, about half of the survivors still had at least one persistent symptom (most often fatigue or muscle weakness) and one in three patients still presented with shortness of breath” the doctors. In addition, the majority of these COVID-19 survivors were in poorer health than people of the same age and sex who had not been infected with the virus.
These health problems persist especially in patients who had been seriously ill during their stay in hospital.
Difficulty fully inflating the lungs
At the beginning of the year, another study carried out at Toulouse University Hospital revealed that many patients retain pulmonary sequelae several months after contracting a severe form of Covid-19. By studying the data of 72 patients affected during the first wave, the doctors of the Toulouse University Hospital noticed that 61% of the patients still had symptoms of pulmonary problems, 4 months after having contracted the virus.
44% of patients still had difficulty breathing, when 31% testified to chronic fatigue. These patients had had different forms of Covid-19, but all had been hospitalized, note the doctors. After 4 months, the X-rays continued to reveal abnormalities in 41% of them, while the respiratory tests revealed it for 39% of them. Scans revealed difficulty in fully inflating lungs in 23.6% of patients, the respiratory muscle was dysfunctional in 18% of cases.
Sources:
- 1-year outcomes in hospital survivors with COVID-19: a longitudinal cohort study, The Lancet, August 2021
- Severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia: Clinical, functional and imaging outcomes at 4 months, Science Direct, April 28, 2021.
Also read:
- Long covid: symptoms persist in 60% of hospitalized patients
- Covid-19: what exactly is pandemic fatigue?
- I did not have side effects after the vaccine: am I really protected?
