Majority have ‘long Covid’ symptoms seven weeks after discharge

[HDQQ]

The large number of people dying from covid-19 is obviously the main crisis, followed by the number of people who survive after being seriously ill.

Pressure on the NHS, the impact on the economy and on the nation's mental health are also big concerns.

But an additional long covid crisis could emerge, with tens or even hundreds of thousands of people being chronically unwell and unable to work. I've met people with chronic fatigue syndrome who have gone from being work hard, play hard types to being too tired to walk down the garden and back. Apparently that's what long covid is like.

[Barry]

They've renamed long covid:

It's Coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid

[BeElBeeBub]

You mean that the medics are desperate to keep their snouts in the trough?

Yes, famously Nurses and Doctors are paid per patient.  They are currently rolling in it and all thinking about which Ferrari they're going to buy and not working overtime in uncomfortable PPE.

The only people with their snouts in the trough are Tory party donors and family friends being awarded 8 figure contracts with no competition and "it's all a hoax Covid grifters".

The only thing we know about this bug is that the fatality rate is low

Yes, a death rate so low that CV is on course to be the #1 cause of death this year despite unprecedented action.

If we had done nothing it would have likely killed more people than every other cause put together.

Still, in absolute terms this isn't as bad as it could be. It mainly kills the older population and overall it's about 1%.

Imagine if it was 5% or 10% and evenly distributed by age (or worse it targeted the young) mind you imagine some people still wouldn't take it seriously.

[Borchester]

Both "majority of people discharged after serious CV have lingering symptoms" *and* "some people have Long CV despite never being hospitalised" can be true at the same time.

Long Covid is the thing that is missed from a lot of "it only kills the old so let it rip" arguments.

Long term health problems for even just a few % of the population can be very costly in both economic and social terms.

You mean that the medics are desperate to keep their snouts in the trough? No argument there. But it is worth pointing out that once you are past the big seven O you usually have some complaint or another, which is why surgeries are always full of Methusalah's friends and family.

The only thing we know about this bug is that the fatality rate is low but that megabucks are being thrown at it, so the media will go on and on about it forever.

[johnofgwent]

Both "majority of people discharged after serious CV have lingering symptoms" *and* "some people have Long CV despite never being hospitalised" can be true at the same time.

Long Covid is the thing that is missed from a lot of "it only kills the old so let it rip" arguments.

Long term health problems for even just a few % of the population can be very costly in both economic and social terms.

I believe I have caught the pox and laughed it off


In the sense I never needed hospitals station


But my O2 saturation and asthmatic wheeziness are becoming worse weekly....

[BeElBeeBub]

Having been in the need of hospital care initially has no bearing  on the long term problems and I would question the Dr on her contention that  '' patients  whose COVID-19 illness is serious enough for them to require hospital care often continue to suffer significant symptoms for many weeks after discharge ''

There are many people who did not require hospital treatment and indeed were not even tested who are having to deal with 'long COVID' 

https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3489

The truth is they dont know what the long term effects are going to be and these 'experts' need to expand their research to include the vast majority of those who did not require hospitalization if they are going to understand how long covid sufferers are going to be helped in the future .

Both "majority of people discharged after serious CV have lingering symptoms" *and* "some people have Long CV despite never being hospitalised" can be true at the same time.

Long Covid is the thing that is missed from a lot of "it only kills the old so let it rip" arguments.

Long term health problems for even just a few % of the population can be very costly in both economic and social terms.

[Streetwalker]

Having been in the need of hospital care initially has no bearing  on the long term problems and I would question the Dr on her contention that  '' patients  whose COVID-19 illness is serious enough for them to require hospital care often continue to suffer significant symptoms for many weeks after discharge ''

There are many people who did not require hospital treatment and indeed were not even tested who are having to deal with 'long COVID' 

https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3489

The truth is they dont know what the long term effects are going to be and these 'experts' need to expand their research to include the vast majority of those who did not require hospitalization if they are going to understand how long covid sufferers are going to be helped in the future .

[Borg Refinery]

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/nov/majority-have-long-covid-symptoms-seven-weeks-after-discharge#:~:text=Professor%20Hurst%20(UCL%20Division%20of,service%20during%20a%20period%20of

The study, carried out in collaboration with clinicians at the Royal Free London (RFL) and University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH), shows that 54 days after discharge, 69% of patients were still experiencing fatigue, 53% were suffering from persistent breathlessness, 34% still had a cough and 15% reported depression. In addition 38% of chest radiographs (X-rays) remained abnormal and 9% were getting worse.

Published in the medical journal Thorax, the study was led by Dr Swapna Mandal and Professor John Hurst, who are both UCL Division of Medicine academics and RFL respiratory consultants. The findings represent the work of a large number of clinicians at these hospitals and UCL academics.

Clinical teams set up a "post-COVID" follow up clinic to review both the psychological and physiological symptoms of discharged patients.

In total, they observed 384 patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 and had been treated at Barnet Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital or UCLH. Collectively the average length of stay in hospital was 6.5 days.

All patients were telephoned or seen in person by a member of the clinical team on average 54 days after they had left hospital. Some further face-to-face clinical appointments were required for patients needing rehabilitation and/or further investigation.

The research showed that for those patients whose chest X-ray was still showing signs of infection when they were discharged, 62% had a normal X-ray when it was repeated, while the remainder (38%) were still showing changes. Almost one in ten (9%) of these patients had an X-ray which was worse than when they were discharged.

Dr Mandal, an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at UCL Division of Medicine, said that this data shows so-called 'long Covid' is a real phenomenon and that further research is needed to understand how the symptoms of COVID-19 can be treated in the long-term.

"Patients whose COVID-19 illness is serious enough for them to require hospital care often continue to suffer significant symptoms for many weeks after their discharge," she said.

Professor Hurst (UCL Division of Medicine) said: "Understanding 'long Covid' is critical in helping people who have been through this life-changing experience return to health, while rapid roll-out of this follow-up service shows how our clinical teams worked together to deliver an innovative service during a period of unprecedented demand on our staff."

Research limitations

The researchers only included patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19; patients requiring prolonged ICU and in-patient stay may be under-represented in this early analysis.