News Scan for Mar 29, 2022

Study details poor outcomes tied to long COVID-19Results of a new survey of 436 Americans with long COVID reveal that the condition is significantly associated with poorer long-term health status, worse quality of life, and psychological distress.

The results were published yesterday in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses.The study was based on outcomes seen in patients with acute COVID-19 from Apr 1 and Jul 28, 2020.

Among survey participants, 44% had persistent COVID-19 symptoms at long-term follow-up (6 to 11months), and 56% had no persistent symptoms.Even patients with mild presenting illness reported a cluster of symptoms up to 6 months after diagnosis, including fatigue (31%), shortness of breath (20%), difficulty with concentration (9%), and loss of smell (9%).Of 221 participants who did not have persistent symptoms (were recovered) at long-term follow-up, 122 (55%) had recovered in under 1 month, 74 (33%) recovered in 1 to 3 months, 20 (9%) had recovered in 3 to 6 months, and 5 (2%) had recovered after 6 months, the authors said.Though numerous previous studies have shown that up to 80% of patients with severe COVID (requiring hospitalization) develop long COVID, this study adds to a growing body of literature that suggests that even mild cases have the potential to turn into long COVID."We observed that 32% of our outpatient cohort still had not returned to their pre-illness concentration status 6–11 months after acute illness," the authors wrote. "People who are treated as outpatients for mild COVID-19, but have a high burden of persistent symptoms, may benefit from access to the Post-COVID Recovery Clinics that have been developed for inpatients and ICU survivors."Mar 28 Influenza Other Respir Viruses stud