Three-quarters of COVID-19 patients followed up after being discharged from a hospital in Wuhan more than one symptom six months later, a Chinese study has revealed.
The study of nearly 2,000 patients, which was released last week The Lancet, 32656-8 / fulltext) helps reveal the long – term effects of the virus that first appeared in December 2019 and has traveled around the world killing 1.9 million.
The most common symptoms six months after hospitalization were fatigue or muscle weakness and sleep problems, the study authors said, with 76% of patients reporting at least one symptom at 6 months after the onset of the symptom.
Fatigue or muscle weakness was reported in 63% of patients but sleep problems were reported in 23% of study participants. Anxiety or depression were reported among 23% of patients assessed in the study.
The study included 1,733 patients from Jin Yin-tan Hospital in Wuhan and was completed between June and September 2020.
2,469 patients with COVID-19 were discharged from that hospital between January 7, and May 29, 2020, but some patients were not admitted.
Thirty-three patients were not included in the study as they died after discharge due to “exacerbation of lung, heart and kidney disease”.
Three patients developed strokes and one patient had a blood clot in the lung.
The median age of the participants in the study was 57 and the most common comorbidity was hip-suffering with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
A Chinese study found that those who were more ill while in hospital had worse lung weakening and “abnormal breast images”.
Many researchers have been concerned about the long-term effects of COVID-19, with even some patients with calmer cases saying they have suffered symptoms of the virus for months as well.
A recent UK-US study of patients with long-term symptoms of COVID-19, known as ‘Long Covid’, reported that most patients had not returned to normal levels. previous work after six months and few had yet recovered seven months after the infection.
In that study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed and published on a pre-print server, 205 symptoms in 10 organ systems were recorded.
Seventy-eight per cent of those affected were women and only 8% had been in hospital.
About 96% said symptoms lasted longer than 90 days.