One in ten people mildly suffering from COVID-19 eight months after the infection experiences at least one symptom (moderate to severe) that negatively affects their work, quality of life or social contacts, according to a study published in the journal JAMA.
Complications of COVID-19 in convalescents
The most common symptoms include loss of sense of smell and taste, and chronic fatigue.
The authors of the work are scientists from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. In the spring of 2020, they took blood samples from over 2 adults who have contracted COVID-19. They took further samples every four months, while asking participants to complete questionnaires about long-term symptoms of the disease and their impact on quality of life.
See also: “Long covid” most common in middle-aged women. What are the symptoms?
The second part of the study, conducted in January 2021, assessed the long-term effects of contracting work and the social and private life of participants who had had a mild exposure to COVID-19 at least eight months previously. This time the research group consisted of 323 people (mean age 43).
The results showed that 26 percent people who had COVID-19 had at least one moderate to severe symptom that lasted more than two months, and 11% had one for eight months after infection. Participants reported that this symptom negatively affected their professional, social, or home life.
The most common symptoms were loss of sense of smell and taste, fatigue, and trouble breathing.
– The dominant ailment in our respondents was the non-recurring loss of smell and taste. Fatigue and breathing problems also persisted in many people, but less frequently, says Dr. Charlotte Thalin, study director. – We did not observe an increased incidence of cognitive symptoms such as memory and concentration problems, or physical disorders such as muscle and joint pain, palpitations or prolonged fever.
- See also: What do convalescents suffer from? The list of symptoms of “long covid” continues to grow
— Despite the fact that study participants had a mild form of COVID-19, a relatively large proportion of them reported long-term effects of the disease with a clear impact on quality of life – adds co-author of the publication Dr. Sebastian Havervall. – So you can see that also young and healthy people, like everyone else, should feel great respect for the virus, which can so much deteriorate the quality of their life, even many months after the infection.
Author: Katarzyna Czechowicz / kap / agt / PAP
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