COVID-19 stays with you even after the negative diagnosis. Some symptoms are long-lasting and can significantly alter one’s quality of life. Scientists are researching this phenomenon, called long COVID, and found that it is more common in women under 50 and people who experienced severe disease. Furthermore, this research led by the University of Glasgow showed that persistent symptoms are more common than one would think.
Younger women do not feel fully recovered for longer after dealing with COVID-19 disease. Image credit: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Researchers at the University of Glasgow with colleagues from the Universities of Oxford, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Imperial College London followed 327 adults from 31 hospitals around the UK. Participants of this study had been admitted to hospital between 5th February 2020 and 5th October 2020. Scientists followed them for some time, reaching out to them for at least three months and up to 11 months after the COVID-19 case. Researchers wanted to see how long some symptoms persist and what people are suffering from this condition for longer.
This study showed that women under 50 years of age are five times more likely to feel persistent COVID-19 symptoms after the negative diagnosis. This means that even when the body’s immune system gets rid of the virus, some symptoms remain, causing huge physical and emotional distress. For example, women under 50 were twice as likely to report worse fatigue and 7 times more likely to feel breathlessness. They were also suffering from other remaining symptoms, such as memory problems, mobility issues, vision and hearing impairments. Fatigue and breathlessness were the most common persistent symptoms, which stayed with people recovering from COVID-19 for months.
Persistent COVID-19 symptoms are worrying not just because they have a huge impact on one’s quality of life, but also because they are so common. 55% of participants in this study reported that they did not feel fully recovered. 93 % said that they are dealing with ongoing symptoms. Dr Janet Scott, lead author of the study, said: “Our research shows that survivors of COVID-19 experienced long-term symptoms, including a new disability, increased breathlessness, and a reduced quality of life. These findings were present even in young, previously healthy working age adults, and were most common in younger females.”
COVID-19 usually passes in 2-4 weeks. At that point you get a negative COVID-19 test, which means that there are no viruses in your system and you wouldn’t be spreading the disease to others. However, that is not the time of recovery. Thousands and thousands of people do not feel fully recovered in months following the disease. In fact, some scientists are worried that the long COVID is going to be a pandemic on its own even after vaccines help us get rid of COVID-19.
Source: University of Glasgow