A study showed that post-Covid-19 symptoms could persist for a year or longer after recovery.
As there is no effective treatment for long Covid, after-effects of Covid-19 could become a new chronic disease.
The research team at the Luxembourg Institute of Health analyzed the health status of 289 Covid-19 patients one year after their recovery. It released the results at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held through Tuesday in Lisbon, Portugal.
The results showed that 59.5 percent of the Covid-19 patients had at least one symptom a year after recovery. More than half (52.4 percent) of the patients suffered sleep problems, and 12.9 percent said respiratory symptoms affected their quality of life. About a third (34.3 percent) of the patients said they experienced for a year after Covid-19 infection.
Another study, released by the U.K. National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in Lancet Respiratory Medicine found similar outcomes.
The NIHR’s study showed that only 28.9 percent of 2,320 patients hospitalized for Covid-19 recovered from the disease one year after the infection. About 49 percent of the patients thought they did not get well fully, and 22.4 percent said they were uncertain about their health status.
Until one year after discharge, the most common symptom was fatigue (60.1 percent). More than half of the patients had muscle pain (54.6 percent), lack of sleep (52.3 percent), and difficulty breathing (51.4 percent).
“There was little difference in symptom relief between five months after discharge and one year after discharge,” the research team said. “Without effective treatments, long Covid could become a prevalent new long-term condition.”
Korean Covid-19 patients have experienced similar problems. In a survey by Kyungpook National University Hospital last month, 75.9 percent of 170 patients who were diagnosed with Covid-19 between February and March 2020 suffered at least one symptom for a year. Sixty-four patients suffered persisting forgetfulness, fatigue, and sleep disorder even after 21 months.
Also, 31.7 percent of the patients hospitalized at the National Medical Center for Covid-19 during the same period showed long Covid symptoms, including fatigue, 19 months after discharge.