Although most patients are mildly or asymptomatically infected with the coronavirus, even these people can develop serious complications. Dr. Michał Chudzik from the Department of Cardiology of the Medical University of Lodz told Medexpress about the changes in the body of convalescents can cause infection with the coronavirus.
- Many patients complain of long-term complications after COVID-19 – most of them are women who have no other chronic diseases
- The doctors’ observations show that the convalescents suffer from chronic fatigue, “brain fog”, neurological symptoms
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Martyna Chmielewska, Medexpress: Although most patients are asymptomatic or mildly infected with the coronavirus, even these people experience serious complications. What problems do healers report to you most often?
Dr. Michał Chudzik: Patients within four weeks after suffering the coronavirus infection may experience such symptoms as: fatigue, chest pain, shortness of breath, a feeling of rapid heartbeat, symptoms of brain fog, memory loss, and orientation disorder. Most often, patients report this type of problem to our clinic. These are mainly patients who have passed the coronavirus infection at home. There are also hospitalized people.
At what age are patients with complications from coronavirus infection most often reported?
90% of people who contract coronavirus at home sick. They are different from inpatients. They are much younger people. Their average age is 48 years. Most of them are women and people without multiple comorbidities.
The most common comorbidities in these are: hypertension and thyroid disease. These people suffer from completely different ailments than patients who suffer severely from the coronavirus in a hospital setting. I will add that 25 percent. people suffering from coronavirus at home get very sick.
Do patients who previously had a problem with it have complications such as: myocarditis, thrombosis, severe headaches, or are they people who developed these ailments only after being infected with the coronavirus?
Inflammatory changes in the heart are a common problem. 20-30 percent suffer from them. sick after coronavirus infection. This complication is not related to age. It affects both young and old people. It is disturbing that 6 percent. people suffer from heart damage due to COVID-19 infection. This requires cardiac treatment with drugs. Will it be a reversible process? Will the heart dysfunction reverse? We don’t know that yet.
Thrombotic complications that often occur after coronavirus infection are age-related. The older the person, the greater the risk of thrombotic complications. In patients treated at home, this complication does not occur as often as in hospitalized patients.
- See also: COVID-19 attacks the heart. A complication of, inter alia, thrombosis
What determines the intensity of complications? Is it related to age, general condition of the body?
We do not find a close correlation. Almost a thousand people were tested in this regard. However, this requires careful statistical analysis. We can certainly see some dependencies on the lifestyle associated with the severe course of coronavirus infection and rapid regeneration after the infection. People who work a lot, stress, sleep little, have high levels of cholesterol and sugar can hardly contract coronavirus. After the infection has passed, they may experience other complications.
We know that patients who have been infected with the coronavirus complain of insomnia, depression and anxiety disorders. Why is this happening?
I think they are triggered by two mechanisms. The first is the feeling of danger due to coronavirus infection. Some patients have had a severe course of infection at home. A lot of people also have someone in the family who was hospitalized due to coronavirus infection. Fatalities were not uncommon. These people fell a lot of stress factors, the so-called stressors. The mental and nervous systems of these people are very weakened. In every patient with such disorders, we assess the level of anxiety, stress and depression. Patients after suffering from coronavirus infection need multi-specialist care. They should have access to many specialist doctors, such as: cardiologist, pulmonologist, neurologist, rheumatologist, psychologist, dietician, therapist and physiotherapist.
Interviewer: Martyna Chmielewska / Medexpress
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