Complications after COVID-19. What are the symptoms and what tests should be done after the disease?

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Doctors are paying more and more attention to the next threat related to the coronavirus. It concerns people who have had SARS-CoV-2 infection. Experts talk about acute, prolonged, or chronic COVID-19. What do they mean, what symptoms do they give and what tests are suggested to be performed after an infection has passed?

1. There are people who, although they have beaten COVID-19, still feel ailments, complications can last for months
2. Scientists are already describing the emerging forms of COVID-19, detailing: protracted COVID-19, chronic, acute, postcovid syndrome
3. Scientists postulate that patients with disturbing ailments after COVID-19 should be examined by a family doctor
4. More current information can be found on the Onet homepage.

Complications after having COVID-19

While most patients recover fully within a few weeks, it is becoming increasingly clear that there are people who, despite being COVID-19 survivors, still feel discomfort (even after a mild course of infection), and complications can last for weeks. and even for months.

Already in the fall, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading expert in the field of infectious diseases in the US, estimated that the problem could affect 10 to 30 percent. people infected with the coronavirus. Many of them are young people with no previous health problems.

– You can’t be safe. SARS-CoV-2 can make you disabled for months, if not years, warned emergency medicine specialist Ken Scheppke some time ago.

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Persistent complications after COVID-19 are commonly referred to as “long COVID” or “long tail COVID”. These are obviously not medical terms and there is no official definition of these ailments yet, nevertheless scientists already describe the emerging forms of COVID-19, listing (depending on the adopted division), prolonged COVID-19, chronic COVID-19, acute COVID-19 , post-COVID-19 syndrome. What do these terms mean, what are the conditions for patients?

Forms of COVID-19: Prolonged, Chronic, Acute, Post-Covid Syndrome

Taking into account the prolonged symptoms or ailments reported by patients with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, they distinguished:

1. protracted COVID-19 – includes people with symptoms lasting more than three weeks after the first infection
2. chronic COVID-19 – when the symptoms persist for more than 12 weeks from the first symptoms appearing.

The British National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE – an agency of the Ministry of Health responsible, among others, for providing opinions on medical procedures) uses a slightly different division of COVID-19:

1. acute COVID-19 – COVID-19 complaints and symptoms lasting up to four weeks
2. prolonged symptomatic COVID-19 – COVID-19 complaints and symptoms lasting from four to 12 weeks
3. post-COVID-19 syndrome – complaints and symptoms that develop during or after COVID-19 last more than 12 weeks and are not due to a different diagnosis.

Research devoted to this issue shows that about 10-20 percent. Patients after COVID-19 report feeling unwell and not fully recovering for more than three weeks after getting sick. People who struggle with it for more than 12 weeks are 1-3%, although the percentage is probably higher.

Complications after passing COVID-19. Symptoms

Among COVID-19 symptoms lasting more than three weeks, patients reported shortness of breath, coughing, fatigue, and some had depression. Health complications after being infected with the coronavirus were also reported by patients who underwent the disease mildly and had no additional burden of disease, including young people.

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In a survey of outpatient American adults with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, approximately 35 percent of people reported that they had not returned to their pre-disease state within 2-3 weeks of being tested for COVID-19. Among healthy adults up to the age of 34, this applied to every fifth person.

Symptoms that patients reported after being acutely infected with COVID-19 were diverse. They complained about problems such as:

1. general (fever, pain, fatigue),
2. on the part of the respiratory system (cough, shortness of breath),
3. on the part of the cardiovascular system (pressure and pain in the chest, palpitations), neurological and psychiatric (disturbance of concentration and memory, headaches, sleep disorders, dizziness, delirium [in the elderly]),
4. from the gastrointestinal tract (abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, appetite disorders), from the musculoskeletal system (muscle pain, joint pain)
5. psychiatric (depression, anxiety)
6. sensory organs and throat (earache, tinnitus, changes in smell and taste, sore throat)

Among the consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection, myocarditis, circulatory failure and arrhythmias were also noted. Post-infectious encephalitis has also been described.

Research that is proposed after the coronavirus has passed

Due to the fact that the symptoms listed above affect many organs and areas of the body, scientists studying the issues of prolonged COVID-19 emphasize that they require a comprehensive approach to the patient. It should take into account not only his physical condition, but also, for example, psychological issues.

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Scientists postulate that patients after COVID-19 should be examined by a family doctor. What studies do they think are worth considering?

Medical history: determining when the symptoms appeared and in what order, whether there were complications in the course of the infection (e.g. kidney failure), what are the current symptoms and severity, whether there are comorbidities, what and whether COVID-19 influenced their course and treatment.

During the visit, the patient is measured temperature, pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation.

Depending on the abnormalities found, the doctor may order, among others: a morphology with an assessment of the percentage of white blood cells, electrolyte levels, troponin, CRP protein, liver enzymes and parameters of kidney function, creatine kinase, ferritin, TSH and thyroid hormones, urinalysis.

Additional tests include: chest X-ray and ECG. The British Thoracic Society recommends that patients who have been hospitalized and required oxygen therapy should be checked by a doctor one and a half months after discharge from the hospital. After 12 weeks, they should have a chest X-ray and an examination for thrombosis is also ordered.

Depending on the results of the study, specialist consultations are included.

The therapy depends, of course, on the identified irregularities. Once serious complications of COVID-19 have been ruled out, treatment is symptomatic and supportive of recovery. Patients with a severe course of infection may benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation.

You may be interested in:

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