84% of Swedes hospitalized for Covid-19 had serious cognitive and sensorimotor symptoms persisting at the two year mark. 84% of hospital COVID patients in Sweden still had symptoms at 2 years https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/84-hospital-covid-patients-sweden-still-had-symptoms-2-years The vast majority—84.2%—of COVID-19 survivors in a Swedish cohort reported persistent symptoms affecting daily life 2 years after hospital release, according to a follow-up study published late last week in The Lancet Regional Health Europe. Linkoping University researchers in Sweden interviewed COVID-19 patients about 37 symptoms 2 years after release from the hospital from Mar 1 to May 31, 2020. The group's initial 2021 study found that 185 of 433 hospital patients (42.7%) had lingering symptoms and activity limitations 4 months after discharge. Of the 181 long-COVID patients still alive at 2 years, 165 agreed to participate in the follow-up study, 63.0% were men, and 26% had been admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). Of the 47 ICU patients, the median hospital stay was 25 days, and 43 (91%) had received mechanical ventilation for a median of 17 days. Median length of stay among nonseverely ill patients was 4 days. Fewer patients employed, in classes During the 2-year study period, 21.2% of the 165 patients were rehospitalized for cardiovascular, trauma/injuries, urogenital and endocrine diseases, infectious diseases such as COVID-19 reinfections, and other conditions. Fully 84.2% said they still had symptoms that had at least moderate effects on their daily life. At 2 years, 19.4% of patients required referral to a medical clinic for additional follow-up. Cognitive and sensorimotor symptoms and fatigue were the most common lingering symptoms, while there was significant improvement in sensorimotor deficits, affective symptoms, and mental fatigue. About half of long-COVID patients who were on sick leave at 4 months were still on sick leave at 2 years. The number of patients who were employed or studying was significantly lower at 2 years than before COVID-19. There was no difference in symptoms between who were or weren't critically ill during initial infection. The number of asymptomatic patients rose from 14 (8%) at 4 months to 41 (25%) at 2 years. The number of patients who were employed or studying was significantly lower at 2 years than before COVID-19. The rate of symptoms with at least a moderate impact on daily activities fell significantly by 2 years for limb weakness/fatigability, problems walking at least 1 kilometer (0.6 mile), challenges being physically active, difficulty managing work and/or studies, increased need for sleep, headache, mental fatigue, and anxiety. Thirty-one patients (18.8%) reported other symptoms not included in the interview, such as heart palpitations, chronic fever, reduced appetite, sweating, and hair loss. Vaccinated report better health The degree of shortness of breath improved significantly from 4 months to 2 years, although the proportion of patients with light or moderate shortness of breath was comparable at both assessments (60% and 58%, respectively), and the proportion of severe shortness of breath declined from 32% to 18%. Self-reported general health improved over the study period, with the number describing their health as good or very good climbing from 35 (22%) to 80 (49%). In a subgroup analysis, the 10 unvaccinated patients said their health had deteriorated over the study period, while the 122 patients who had received at least three vaccine doses patients said their health had improved. "Our cohort of patients, who were hospitalised with COVID-19 during the first pandemic wave and showed symptoms indicating PCC [post-COVID condition] at 4-months post-discharge, showed improved symptoms at two years post-admission, but also a high prevalence of persistent cognitive, sensorimotor and fatigue symptoms impacting on their everyday life," the researchers wrote. "This implies a need to establish routines for long-term follow-up of patients previously hospitalised due to COVID-19 with PCC."
On the good news front, it appears that Omicron is less likely to cause Long Covid. People Are Far Less Likely to Get Long COVID After Omicron, Study Finds https://time.com/6261074/long-covid-omicron-less-likely/ Researchers still have a lot to learn about Long COVID—when symptoms linger long after a COVID-19 infection is over—but new data suggest there may be some good news for people infected with the virus more recently. In a study that will be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in April (and which has not yet been published), researchers report that people who tested positive for COVID-19 during Omicron waves were no more likely to report lingering symptoms after recovery than people who had never had COVID-19. By contrast, those who were infected with the original SARS-CoV-2 variant were up to 67% more likely to report lingering symptoms than those who did not have COVID-19. Dr. Carol Strahm and Dr. Philipp Kohler, both from the division of infectious diseases and hospital epidemiology at Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen in Switzerland, led the study of 1,200 health care workers in the country. The participants, mostly female nurses, agreed to regular PCR testing for COVID-19 during periods when the original virus was circulating, from February 2020 to January 2021, and during the Omicron wave from January to June 2022. In March and September 2021 and in June 2022, all of the participants answered an online questionnaire about any lasting symptoms they might be experiencing, which could include fatigue, loss of smell or taste, and shortness of breath. The aggregate of these symptoms made up a rough measure of Long COVID. The results were similar when the research team looked at people who tested positive during the Omicron wave after being positive with the original virus; these people did not report any more Long COVID-like symptoms than people who had been infected once with the original virus. “The wild-type [original] virus is by far the strongest risk factor for Long COVID-19,” says Kohler. Over the 18 months from the first and last assessments, people infected with the original virus showed fewer Long COVID symptoms, but some had symptoms that remained, while those whose first positive test was during the Omicron wave did not, on the whole, report continued symptoms after their infection. When the researchers looked at symptom reports by people’s vaccination status, they saw that booster shots did not seem to make a difference in whether people developed Long COVID or not. “We don’t see that the booster adds much more benefit, at least in terms of Long COVID, in our population,” says Kohler. The results add to growing data about how the different variants affect short- and long-term health. And the data aren’t completely straightforward. Similar to the current study, a previous study from the U.K. involving health records of 97,000 people found that those who were infected with Omicron variants were about half as likely to report continued symptoms four weeks or more after their infection as people who were infected with the Delta variant. But a Norwegian study involving 57,000 people who tested positive found that people infected with Omicron and Delta strains were equally likely to report continued symptoms of fatigue, cough, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and anxiety or depression up to four months later. The differing findings could be related to the populations studied and how they defined symptoms, says Kohler. In general, Omicron causes milder infections in relatively healthy people, and data show that more severe disease is more likely to lead to the lingering symptoms of Long COVID. He notes that the size of his study was relatively small compared to the others, although it had the advantage of repeated questionnaires to track volunteers’ symptoms. “We have a selected population of health care workers, and a limitation with the small sample size,” he says. “Still, in my opinion, the data show there is clearly less Long COVID—probably not much higher than in the uninfected population—among people whose first infection was with Omicron.” Figuring out how the different variants may affect lingering symptoms is a key question in Long COVID research. Kohler and Strahm plan to ask the volunteers to answer another questionnaire about their symptoms in April to determine if the differences between infections with original and Omicron strains remain.
Doctors need more information on how to treat Long Covid. This drives the need for more research. ‘We are struggling’: doctors faced with vacuum of information on long Covid Three years into the pandemic, unanswered questions about the condition limit physicians’ ability to treat patients https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/06/long-covid-unanswered-question-doctors-stigma
Long Covid is associated with significantly increased risk of death, heart and lung problems, study finds https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/03/health/long-covid-health-consequences/index.html As the nation anticipates the end of the Covid-19 public health emergency, new research is showing that some groups are still feeling the long-term impacts of the disease. In the year following infection, individuals who experience long Covid are at high risk for a range of adverse health outcomes, including a doubled risk of death, according to a new study published Friday in JAMA Health Forum. The study examined insurance claims data for 13,435 adults with long Covid and 26,870 without Covid-19 during a 12-month follow-up period. Accounting for factors present prior to infection, the long Covid group experienced increased mortality, with 2.8% individuals with long Covid dying compared to 1.2% of those without long Covid. Those with long Covid were also roughly two times more likely to experience cardiovascular events including arrhythmias, stroke, heart failure and coronary artery disease. Pulmonary conditions were also common. The risk of pulmonary embolism more than tripled while the risk of COPD and moderate or severe asthma nearly doubled for those with long Covid. The study found that risks were greatest among individuals hospitalized within a month of a Covid infection. “We know from published literature that long Covid can result in fatigue, headache and attention disorder,” said Dr. Andrea DeVries, Staff Vice President for Health Services Research at Elevance Health and the lead author of the study. “While those conditions are concerning, the results from this study point to even more worrisome outcomes that can severely impact quality and length of life for individuals with long Covid.” The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines long Covid as having new, returning, or ongoing health issues more than four weeks after onset of initial infection. According to research by the CDC, one in five Covid-19 survivors ages 18 to 64 and one in four survivors 65 years or older experience an ongoing health issue that might be attributable to Covid-19 infection. Long Covid has been associated with more than 200 signs and symptoms and 50 health conditions. Experts say the health consequences can last from months to years. “We can only measure out as far as the pandemic has been happening, but early evidence suggests that a large portion of people who experienced post-Covid condition are doing so more than two years after their initial infection, which is basically as long as it could be,” said Dr. Mark Czeisler who wrote a related editorial also published in JAMA Health Forum. Research has shown that Covid reinfection substantially increases an individual’s risk of death, hospitalization, and health consequences from long Covid. For example, the risk of cardiovascular disorders increases from 1.6 with one infection, to 3.0 with two infections and 4.8 with three or more infections. “It’s demonstrating that it’s not like you have Covid once and then if you don’t get acutely ill or you don’t develop long Covid from that first infection that the coast is clear,” said Czeisler, who was not involved in the study. Other risk factors for long Covid include older age, being female, tobacco use, higher body mass index, and experiencing more symptoms during the acute Covid-19 illness. Being vaccinated prior to infection has been associated with a decreased risk of long Covid, according to previous research. The study authors say these findings call for continued efforts to prevent Covid-19 infections and enhanced health monitoring of individuals after an infection. “The biggest takeaway is that long Covid is a health condition that we need to continue to study and take seriously,” said DeVries.
Long COVID Comes Into the Light We’re finally starting to see the truth about the vexing condition. It’s not what we thought. https://slate.com/technology/2023/03/long-covid-symptoms-studies-research-variant.html
There should be no surprise that people who are UNVACCINATED and SMOKE have worse health outcomes. These people are the victims of their own poor choices. Many of them are obviously MAGA supporters. Study links ‘long COVID’ to unhealthy life choices https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/mar/23/study-links-long-covid-unhealthy-life-choices/
Long COVID not caused by COVID-19 immune inflammatory response, new research finds https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-07-covid-covid-immune-inflammatory-response.html
It's not exactly long COVID, but ... https://www.science.org/content/art...and-long-covid-illness-starts-gain-acceptance