Long-term Consequences of COVID-19 (Long COVID part 1 / 4)
This week’s article will begin to discuss the long-term consequences of being infected with SARS-CoV-2. This is a subject of great importance to individuals, our economy and society in general. This is a subject we are gaining a more full and better understanding - however study is ongoing and what we know will continue to evolve. There is a lot to talk about on this subject so I will break it up into a series of 4 articles.
Information presented is intended to provide a medical perspective - the articles are not intended as a political statement for or against any public policy. Statements in these articles should be considered coming from myself, not from any organization I represent or my employer.
Many people who get infected with SARS-CoV-2 will feel mostly better within a couple of weeks. However, a large number of people have experienced persistent symptoms for many weeks or even several months. Fatigue, headaches, shortness of breath and chest pain with activity are symptoms reported by many people for weeks and months at a time. Some experience problems with cognition, memory, alertness, and attention. This brain fog has been likened to what people with cancer on chemotherapy often experience. Most of us probably know of someone personally, whose sense of taste and/or smell is not back to normal - weeks or months after having COVID-19.
Studies looking at what symptoms last for how long in what percentage of people have found widely varying results. Much of this variety comes from the differences in the populations being studied and how the studies were conducted. Many factors appear to have an impact on how likely someone will have life altering problems from COVID-19. Children fortunately appear to be at a lower risk; however, they are still at significant risk for long term problems from being infected with the virus. A person does not need to have had a severe case of COVID-19 to suffer long lasting problems. However, people who end up in the hospital are far too likely to have problems that may be disabling for weeks or months at a time.
People that end up in the hospital with COVID-19 often will be sick for weeks sometimes even needing ICU care for months. Individuals that become hospitalized may take weeks or months after leaving the hospital to get back to functioning like they were before being infected and some never do get back what they lost. Many are unable to return to work for weeks after returning home or if they are back at work they are not be as productive.
Discussing the studies that have been done to look at what symptoms last for how long and in what percentage of people have suffered is beyond the scope of this article. I will include at the end of this article a reference that will go into the subject in more depth.
We are studying the mechanisms for why people suffer from long term problems from COVID-19 with some studies revealing clues as to what is occurring - and other studies still ongoing or being analyzed. We also now have data accumulating demonstrating long lasting damage from being infected. Next week I will discuss some of what we have found out.
Russ Coash, PA-C
COVID-19 Resource
Nature (scientific journal)
“More than 50 long-term effects of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis”
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