NEW DELHI, Jan 24: A recent study indicates that nearly two-thirds of individuals suffering from long Covid continue to face persistent symptoms, including diminished exercise capacity and cognitive impairments, even in the second year of the condition.
Researchers, including a team from Ulm University in Germany, examined over 1,500 individuals aged 18 to 65 who were diagnosed with post-COVID-19 syndrome, commonly referred to as long Covid, which denotes ongoing symptoms following recovery from the acute infection.
The participants had previously been surveyed regarding the complaints and symptoms experienced after the acute infection phase and were either diagnosed with long Covid or did not develop the condition.
The findings, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, revealed that 68 percent of long Covid patients reported ongoing symptoms in the second year, with the most prevalent issues being fatigue, neurocognitive disturbances, breathlessness, as well as psychiatric conditions like anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders.
Among those with lingering symptoms, researchers also identified “significant reductions in handgrip strength, maximal oxygen consumption, and ventilatory efficiency.”
‘Maximal oxygen consumption’ pertains to the amount of oxygen utilized by an individual during vigorous exercise, while ‘ventilatory efficiency’ refers to the body’s ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide during physical activity.
Moreover, over one-third of the 68 percent reported a decreased ability to exercise, experiencing worsened symptoms after physical activity, and exhibited “poorer outcomes and more pronounced symptoms.”
The authors noted that while previous studies have highlighted potential health issues following a COVID-19 infection, the long-term trajectories of the disease related to long Covid remain unclear.
“In this research, we found that a significant number of working-age patients with post-COVID syndrome did not experience recovery in the second year of their illness. The patterns of reported symptoms were largely unchanged, non-specific, and predominantly characterized by fatigue, exercise intolerance, and cognitive difficulties,” they stated.
Additionally, the authors observed “serious symptoms associated with mental and physical exercise dysfunction, without any laboratory markers indicating Long Covid/post-COVID syndrome.”
The results “underscore the necessity of incorporating cognitive and exercise assessments in the clinical evaluation and monitoring of patients suspected of having long Covid,” the authors emphasized.
They called for more observational studies with extended follow-ups to better evaluate the factors influencing recovery and persistence of symptoms in long Covid. (PTI)
