Experts do not know why some people with COVID-19 experience persistent symptoms. Westend61 / Getty Pictures
- A new study published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society contributes to a growing body of research on the wonder of COVID-19.
- Experts do not know why some people with COVID-19 experience persistent symptoms long after the initial infection.
- For people with remote-controlled COVID-19, supportive care may help them manage symptoms and improve their overall well-being.
Since last spring, experts have been sounding the warning about COVID-19 “long hauliers”, people who experience persistent symptoms for months after being tested for COVID-19.
A new study published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society contributes to a growing body of research on this phenomenon.
The authors of the study invited COVID-19-diagnosed patients to attend a follow-up meeting months after their diagnosis.
Among patients who attended a meeting, many felt that they had not yet returned to full health. Shortness of breath while walking was common, and nearly half of participants reported persistent fatigue.
Some patients with lingering health effects had been hospitalized with COVID-19. However, others had only some original diseases.
“We were surprised by our findings,” said Dr Liam Townsend, lead author of the new study and infectious disease specialist at St James’s Hospital in Dublin, Ireland.
“We were expecting a larger number of breast X-rays. We also expected that the measures of persistent ill health and abnormal outcomes would be related to the severity of the original disease, which was not the case, ”he said.
The findings of the study come as no surprise to Drs. Allison Navis, a pathologist working at the Mount Sinai Center for Post-COVID Care in New York City.
The clinic opened last spring to treat people with persistent symptoms after COVID-19.
Providers at the clinic thought the majority of patients would be people who had been seriously ill and hospitalized with the disease, Navis said.
However, they have found that many people who need care after COVID-19 had very few initial symptoms and were never admitted to hospital.
“I would say that’s the majority of the patients I see. They didn’t need a hospital, and they probably had very few symptoms, ”said Navis.
Navis has been treating the clinic’s patients with brain symptoms such as brain fog, headaches, or strange strange sensations after COVID-19. Shortness of breath and fatigue are also common.
Experts do not know why some people who develop COVID-19 experience persistent symptoms after the virus is no longer found in their body.
When health care providers order breast X-rays, CT scans, or other tests to look for possible causes for long-term symptoms, the results often come back negative.
“Reasonable evidence of diagnostic imaging – something that would explain the symptoms – appears in a very small number of patients we are looking at,” Navis said.
“We’re doing all these jobs, and very few are coming back with positive results,” she said.
The authors of the new study found that very few patients reported lingering symptoms that showed signs of damage on imaging tests, including chest X-rays and CT scans.
More than 60 percent of study participants said they had not yet returned to full health an average of 75 days after their diagnosis. However, only 4 percent showed signs of lung rupture on CT scans.
While there are still many questions about the cause of the long-delayed symptoms, Navis stressed that patients just don’t think about them.
“We have a lot of people with very similar symptoms who know something is happening,” she said.
“It can be very challenging to find out what is causing these issues, but there seems to be a bigger process going on that contributes to them,” she said. .
For people with lasting effects from COVID-19, supportive care can help them manage symptoms and improve their overall well-being.
“Adequate facilities are a vital place to support recovery in the sad and long months following an infectious disease,” said Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
“Long COVID-19 brings not only physical tax but psychological mind overcoming it, which directly affects how people can resume their lives,” he said.
More research is needed to understand the causes of prolonged COVID-19 and to develop effective treatment strategies.
In the meantime, clinicians are doing all they can to manage the symptoms of long-term carriers and promote their recovery.
For example, medications that help patients sleep better may reduce their fat and improve their overall well-being, Navis said.
It is also important to address potential mental health challenges.
“The illness can lead to depression, anxiety and PTSD,” she told Healthline.
“That may not be the main cause of all the symptoms,” she said, “but if it is present, that could be very important, and it is something that we can do something about. do for him. ”
Navis has seen that many of its long haul signals improve over time.
“It can take time, but we’re seeing a lot of people getting better,” she said.
She hopes that, as medical experts continue to treat COVID-19 patients long-term, collaborate across specialties, and conduct research, better treatment options will be available.
With many states currently reporting higher levels of COVID-19, there is likely to be a need for more support for long-range downgrades.
“We need to recognize that a long wave of patients with COVID-19 enters our medical systems that require ongoing care and rehabilitation,” Glatter said.
“We need to not only plan for this by developing centers of excellence, but by allocating the federal funds necessary for the research and care of these patients,” he said.