Conducted by the Toulouse University Hospital, a new study reveals that patients who have suffered from a severe form of Covid-19 have pulmonary sequelae for several months.
A year after a massive arrival of patients with a severe form of Covid-19, pulmonologists continue to follow some of them. Muscle or joint weaknesses, difficulty in breathing, headaches, trouble with memory or smell and taste… The symptoms persist! This is shown by a study published in Science Direct, which was recently completed. Carried out by researchers from Toulouse University Hospital on 72 patients who contracted a serious form of the disease (going to hospital or even intensive care) during the first wave, 61.4% were still symptomatic, four months after infection.
“18% have respiratory muscle dysfunction”
“Four months later, although most of them had returned home, 61% were symptomatic, the main symptom being respiratory discomfort for 44% of patients, but also fatigue for 31%”, says Elisa Noël-Savina, pulmonologist at Toulouse University Hospital and co-author of the study, whose comments were relayed by 20 minutes. “Whether they went into intensive care or were hospitalized in a traditional ward, patients have identical symptoms regardless of the degree of initial severity. This shows that it is mutlifactorial ”, continues researcher Elisa Noël-Savina.
The scans also revealed difficulty in fully inflating the lungs of 23.6% of the 72 patients. Fortunately for the patients, the study tells us that the damage is not irreversible and the state of health improves after a year.
