The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Study highlights long Covid impact
New research showing widespread long Covid among former hospital patients shows a need for continued support, a leading Dundee lung expert has said.
The detailed UK-wide study reveals seven in 10 hospitalised Covid-19 patients were not fully recovered from the condition months later.
It also found one in five participants of the study reached the threshold for a new disability.
Dundee University academic and respiratory physician Professor James Chalmers warned that a “comprehensive plan” is needed to tackle the issue before it spirals out-of-control.
The study was led by National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre and jointly funded by the NIHR and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
It analysed 1,077 patients who were discharged from hospital between March and November 2020 following an episode of Covid-19. The studies findings included:
● Majority of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 have not fully recovered after five months
● Those who experience more persistent symptoms tend to be middle-aged, white, females, with underlying health conditions
● Little relationship between the severity of initial illness and ongoing symptoms
● Cognitive impairment, also referred to as ‘brain fog’, occurs as a predominant symptom in a sub-set of patients who tend to be older and male.
Prof Chalmers represents Scotland on the the Post-Hospitalisation Covid-19 Study management board.
He said: “These results are shocking in the sense that so few patients have fully recovered five months after their stay in hospital and it shows once again that this disease has a long tail that we are only beginning to understand.
“One of the most important things about this study is that it is not necessarily those patients who found themselves in ICU who continue to experience these long-term symptoms.
“Even those who would have been regarded as being mildly ill continue to suffer, showing that we cannot predict who will experience these symptoms on the severity of the initial illness.”
The research found that the majority of survivors who left hospital following Covid-19 did not fully recover five months after discharge and found their ability to work severely impaired.
Researchers found that each had an average of nine persistent symptoms. The most common symptoms reported were muscle pain, fatigue, physically slowing down, joint pain or swelling, limb weakness, breathlessness and shortterm memory loss.
Patients were also assessed for mental health.
The study reports that over 25% of participants had clinically significant symptoms of anxiety and depression while 12% had symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at their five-month follow-up appointment.
Of the participants employed before contracting Covid-19, 17.8% were no longer working, and nearly a fifth had experienced a healthrelated change in their occupational status.
Prof Chalmers added: “This pre-print looks at data from the first 1,000 patients on the Post-Hospitalisation Covid-19 Study.
“We will continue to follow-up with these participants up to a year after their discharge and need to enrol many more volunteers to keep learning more about the ongoing effects of Covid-19.
“Although this is a UKwide study, it highlights the need for a comprehensive plan in Scotland.
“Over the next year there will be a large number of Scots experiencing these symptoms and we need a strategy in place to aid their rehabilitation.”
As if there were any room for doubt, a new study has confirmed the recovery from Covid-19 is going to be a long one in more ways than previously expected.
The emotional impact will be borne forever by many.
The financial consequences are clearly dire already and the full significance for the country’s economy will not be realised for some time.
As if that were not enough, the report from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre shows the recovery for those who have had the disease will be a long one.
Symptoms, even in those with less severe Covid-19, have persisted for months in 70% of patients.
Around 20% reach the threshold for a new disability.
Many suffer mental health issues or have had to give up work.
Clearly, the issues thrown up by this report need treatment every bit as urgently as other aspects of the country’s emergence from the coronavirus crisis.
A wave of illness in the wake of Covid-19 will challenge every aspect of the country’s health and social care sector.
Planning for it should be a key priority and robust proposals should be part of every party’s election pledges in the coming election campaign.
The warnings have been issued and cannot be ignored.