COVID, the gift that keeps on giving
By UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON (UCL)
The symptoms of long COVID can be wide-ranging and may include fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, joint pain, headache, brain fog, difficulty sleeping, and depression or anxiety.
According to a recent extensive study on long COVID patients spanning over 12 months, 59% of patients continued to exhibit organ damage a year after experiencing initial symptoms, including those who were not severely affected at the time of their virus diagnosis.
A new comprehensive study of organ impairment in long COVID patients over 12 months shows organ damage persisted in 59% of patients a year after initial symptoms, even in those not severely affected when first diagnosed with the virus.
The study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of
Medicine, focused on patients reporting extreme breathlessness,
cognitive dysfunction, and poor health-related quality of life; 536 long COVID
patients were included in the study. Thirteen percent were hospitalized when
first diagnosed with COVID-19, while 32% of people taking
part in the study were healthcare workers.
Of the 536 patients, 331 (62%) were identified with organ
impairment six months after their initial diagnosis. These patients were
followed up six months later with a 40-minute multi-organ MRI scan (Perspectum’s
CoverScan), analyzed in Oxford.
The findings confirmed that 29% of patients with long COVID had
multi-organ impairment, with persistent symptoms and reduced function at six
and 12 months. 59% of long COVID patients had single organ impairment 12 months
after initial diagnosis.
Senior author Professor Amitava Banerjee (UCL Institute of Health
Informatics), said: “Symptoms were common at six and 12 months and associated
with female gender, younger age, and single organ impairment.”
The study reported a reduction in symptoms between six and 12
months (extreme breathlessness from 38% to 30% of patients, cognitive
dysfunction from 48% to 38% of patients, and poor health-related quality of
life from 57% to 45% of patients).
Professor Banerjee added: “Several studies confirm persistence of
symptoms in individuals with long COVID up to one year. We now add that three
in five people with long COVID have impairment in at least one organ, and one
in four have impairment in two or more organs, in some cases without symptoms.”
He said: “Impact on quality of life and time off work,
particularly in healthcare workers, is a major concern for individuals, health
systems and economies. Many healthcare workers in our study had no prior
illness, but of 172 such participants, 19 were still symptomatic at follow-up
and off work at a median of 180 days.”
The underlying mechanisms of long COVID remain elusive, say the
researchers, who did not find evidence by symptoms, blood investigations or MRI
to clearly define long Covid subtypes. They say that future research must
consider associations between symptoms, multi-organ impairment and function in
larger cohorts.
Professor Banerjee concluded: “Organ impairment in long Covid has
implications for symptoms, quality of life and longer-term health, signaling
the need for prevention and integrated care for long COVID patients.”
Reference: “Multi-organ impairment and long COVID: a 1-year
prospective, longitudinal cohort study” by Andrea Dennis, Daniel J Cuthbertson,
Dan Wootton, Michael Crooks, Mark Gabbay, Nicole Eichert, Sofia Mouchti,
Michele Pansini, Adriana Roca-Fernandez, Helena Thomaides-Brears, Matt Kelly,
Matthew Robson, Lyth Hishmeh, Emily Attree, Melissa Heightman, Rajarshi
Banerjee and Amitava Banerjee, 14 February 2023, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
DOI:
10.1177/01410768231154703