A lot of people with COVID-19 have lingering symptoms for weeks or months after they begin to recover. This condition normally called as Long Covid may affect about 30 per cent of the people treated for COVID-19.
A new UCLA research finds that people with a history of hospitalisation, diabetes, and higher body mass index were most likely to develop Post Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), most commonly known as “Long COVID.” In the research, the UCLA researchers said that ethnicity, older age, and socio-economic status were not associated with the syndrome even though those characteristics have been linked with severe illness and greater risk of death from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The researchers who studied 309 people with long COVID said that the most persistent symptoms were fatigue and shortness of breath (31% and 15%, respectively) in hospitalized persons, and loss of sense of smell (16%) in outpatients.
METHOD
The UCLA researchers studied 1,038 people who were enrolled in the UCLA COVID Ambulatory Program between April 2020 and February 2021. Of those, 309 developed Long COVID. A person was determined to have the syndrome if they reported persistent symptoms on questionnaires 60 or 90 days after infection or hospitalization.
Potential weaknesses in the study include the subjective nature of how patients rated their symptoms, the limited number of symptoms the researchers evaluated, and limited information about patients pre-existing conditions
IMPACT
The researchers said that the study showed the need to follow diverse patient populations longitudinally to understand the Long COVID disense trajectory and evaluate how individual factors such as pre-existing co-morbidities, sociodemographic factors, vaccination status and virus variant type affect type and persistence of Long COVID symptoms.
They said that the study also raised questions such as: Why were patients with commercial insurance twice as likely to develop Long COVID than patients insured through Medicaid? Because persistent symptoms can be subjective in nature, we need better tools to accurately diagnose Long COVID and to differentiate it from exacerbations of other emerging or chronic conditions,
Common symptoms include:
- Loss of smell and taste
- Shortness of breath
- Cough,
- Joint pain
- Chest pain
One might also have:
- Anxiety
- Gut problems
- Fever Muscle pain
- Depression
- Headache
- Rapid heartbeat
In rare cases, long COVID can affect your organs. You may get:
- Lung-related issues
- Kidney problems
- Hair loss
- Skin rashes
- A hard time with concentration and memory
TREATMENT OF LONG COVID
Long COVID symptoms can last weeks or months. Currently, there’s no specific treatment or cure for people with long-haul symptoms. For long COVID symptoms like rapid heartbeat and fatigue, lifestyle changes or medications may help. Talk with your doctor about what might work best for you
