Overcoming the coronavirus would be just the beginning of the nightmare: survivors would be 60 percent more likely to die in the next 6 months

04/26/2021 4:58 PM

• Clarín.com

• International

Updated 04/26/2021 4:58 PM

Overcoming the coronavirus is a

reason for joy and even celebration

.

The damn virus has frightened and subdued us for more than a year and, of course, when someone manages to defeat it, we celebrate it like a goal in the World Cup final.

But perhaps, following the football analogy,

the game is not over yet.

It is that, according to a new and immense study, which is believed to be the largest carried out so far, it shows some really disappointing data.

Because it seems that those who manage to survive Covid-19 would be

60 percent more likely to die in the next 6 months

from complications arising from the passage of the virus through the body.

It is already known, almost certainly, that many survivors, even those who had mild cases,

continue to suffer from a variety of health problems

long after the initial infection should have resolved.

The new study, whose results were published this week in the journal Nature, ensures that Covid-19 survivors, which includes everyone, hospitalized and even asymptomatic, have

an increased risk of death in the six months following diagnosis with the virus

.

In the research, conducted by the

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

, USA, scientists cataloged the many diseases associated with the passage of the coronavirus, providing an overview of long-term complications and revealing the

enormous burden that this disease

will likely place on the world's population in the coming years.

The study is immense, in fact it is believed to be the largest ever conducted: it

involved more than 87,000 Covid-19 patients and nearly 5 million

control patients from a federal database.

"Our study shows that

up to six months after diagnosis

, the risk of death even after a mild case is not trivial and increases with the severity of the disease," said lead author Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly.

Covid-19 has affected millions of people around the planet.

"

It is not an exaggeration to

say that the long-term health consequences, it is the

next great health crisis in the United States

. Given that more than 30 million Americans have been infected with this virus, and that the burden of Covid-19 prolonged is substantial, the persistent effects of this disease will reverberate for many years and even decades, "he added.

"Doctors must be vigilant when evaluating people who have had Covid-19.

These patients will need integrated and multidisciplinary care

."

Long-term side effects

In the new work, the researchers were able to calculate the potential scale of problems first glimpsed from medical reports and smaller studies that hinted at the far-reaching side effects of surviving the coronavirus 

from respiratory problems and irregular heart rhythms to mental health. . problems and hair loss.

"This study differs from others that have looked at Covid-19 for a long time because instead of just focusing on neurological or cardiovascular complications, for example,

we take a broad view

and use the vast databases of the Health Administration of Veterans (VHA) to catalog all illnesses that may be attributable to it, "said Al-Aly, also director of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and chief of the Research and Education Service for the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Health Care System.

The researchers showed that after surviving the initial infection, survivors had an

almost 60% higher risk of death over the next six months

compared to the general population.

At the six-month mark, excess deaths among all survivors was estimated at eight people per 1,000 patients.

Among patients who were sick enough to be hospitalized and who survived beyond the first 30 days of illness,

there were 29 deaths per 1,000 patients over the next six months.

Millions of people around the world suffered and still do, with complications derived from the covid

"These latest deaths due to long-term complications of the infection are

not necessarily recorded as deaths from Covid-19,

" added Al-Aly, continuing: "Looking at the total number of deaths from the pandemic, these numbers suggest that the deaths that we are counting due to immediate viral infection

are just the tip of the iceberg

. "

To help understand the more serious long-term effects, the researchers conducted a separate analysis of 13,654 hospitalized patients with Covid-19 compared to 13,997 hospitalized patients with seasonal flu.

All patients survived at least 30 days after

hospital admission and the analysis included six months of follow-up data.

Thus they were able to confirm that, despite being initially a respiratory virus, prolonged Covid-19

can affect almost all organ systems in the body

.

The researchers identified newly diagnosed major health problems that persisted in Covid-19 patients for at least six months and

affected nearly every organ and regulatory system in the body

, including:

• Respiratory system: 

  persistent cough, shortness of breath and low oxygen levels in the blood.

  
  

• Nervous system:

  stroke, headaches, memory problems, and problems with the senses of taste and smell.

  
  

• Mental health:

  anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and substance abuse.

  
  

• Metabolism:

  new onset of diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol.

  
  

• Cardiovascular system:

  acute coronary disease, heart failure, palpitations and irregular heart rhythms.

  
  

• Gastrointestinal system:

  constipation, diarrhea and acid reflux.

  
  

• Kidney -

  Acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease that, in severe cases, may require dialysis.

  
  

• Regulation of coagulation:

  blood clots in the legs and lungs.

  
  

• Skin:

  rash and hair loss.

  
  

• Musculoskeletal system:

  joint pain and muscle weakness.

  
  

• General health:

  malaise, fatigue and anemia.

While no survivor suffered from all of these problems, many developed

a set of various problems

that have a significant impact on health and quality of life.

"Compared to influenza, Covid-19 showed

a markedly higher burden of disease

, both in the magnitude of risk and in the breadth of organ system involvement," Al-Aly said.

"

'Long Covid-19'

is more than a typical post-viral syndrome. The size of the risk of illness and death and the degree of organ system involvement is much greater than what we see with other respiratory viruses, such as influenza."

Additionally, the researchers found that the health risks of surviving Covid-19

increased with the severity of the disease

, and hospitalized patients requiring intensive care had the highest risk of prolonged complications and death.

"Some of these problems can improve over time, for example shortness of breath and coughing can improve, and

some problems can get worse

," Al-Aly added.

"We will continue to follow these patients to help us understand the ongoing impacts of the virus beyond the first six months after infection. We are just over a year away from this pandemic, so there may be consequences not yet visible."

Source: ScienceDaily