People affected by the COVID-19 virus have a good chance of developing so-called long COVID complications.
During the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 virtual update on Wednesday, Dr. Sana Mohammed, COVID-19 consultant at Couva Hospital and the Multi-Training Facility, said it is becoming increasingly clear that for some patients effects are of the Covid-19 virus.
Mohammed said Long COVID refers to the signs and symptoms that occur during or after the COVID-19 infection, which persist for more than four weeks and are not explained by any other medical condition.
She noted that the symptoms of Lung COVID are very variable, the most commonly reported being fatigue, severe fatigue, and shortness of breath.
Among the symptoms associated with Lung COVID are respiratory, dermatological, musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neurological, psychological / psychiatric, generalized, and ear, nose and throat symptoms.
“Many patients are expressing a waxing and waning nature of the disease, where you feel like you can recover in a minute, but then you come back. One patient described this as a constant cycle of disappointment not only for you, but for those around you who really want you to recover.
She said patients can sometimes feel isolated and they are the only ones who have persistent symptoms after a COVID-19 infection. But along the way, they begin to realize that there are other patients who experience the same symptoms.
Sharing data from a COVID-19 study that surveyed more than 4,000 patients in three different countries, Mohammed emphasized that while the study has not yet been peer-reviewed, it contains a large amount of data showing some trends regarding to Long COVID, adding that as the data increases, they will be able to identify at-risk groups of patients.
According to the data presented, individuals who report more than five symptoms in the week of onset increase their chances of developing lung COVID.
In addition, 13.3% of the sample population had symptoms that persisted for more than 28 days, while 4.5% had symptoms for a period of eight weeks or longer, and 2.3% had symptoms for more than 12 weeks.
Mohammed noted that although the older population was more at risk of contracting Lung COVID, with the over-70s representing 21.9% of the patients tested, there was a significant finding of 10% in the 18-49 age group.
And while women (14.9%) were more susceptible than men (9.5%), this was not true for older age groups, as Long COVID affected all socioeconomic groups.
“Asthma was the only pre-existing condition associated with Lung COVID and people with Lung COVID required more frequent hospital examinations.
So what’s important for us to note is that cases of Lung COVID can occur in young, previously healthy individuals who are not hospitalized. The general perception that it is an old person’s illness is unrealistic, and young people can certainly start to experience Long COVID, ”said Mohammed.
She stated that in addition to the numerous health consequences of Lung COVID, there are also psychological, social, financial, and economic burdens for some patients.
“Some patients may not be able to work and have great difficulty returning to work after an infection with COVID-19. Some of our patients have difficulty returning to their normal daily function after infection. “
However, she noted that complications following virus infections are not new and referred to the neurological complications associated with Zika and the long-term effects experienced by individuals affected by the Chikungunya virus.
So the concept of long-term symptoms or complications of viral infections must be widely accepted. And although COVID-19 is caused by coronavirus, which is another virus, it is important for us to recognize the long-term health consequences of COVID-19 infection. “
Mohammed said this was especially important for those who believe that if they contract COVID-19, they will recover easily and their chance of dying is low, especially for those who are young with no pre-existing medical conditions.
“And while this may be true, I would like to emphasize that even in this group it is certainly possible to experience long-term COVID and long-term health consequences of COVID-19 infection.”
She said that in managing Lung COVID, patients benefit from a holistic approach in which education is key to both patients and caregivers caring for patients in terms of what services are available for the assessment and management of this challenging group of patients.
Mohammed said that in realizing the holistic approach, two Executive Wellness Centers, located in Arima General Hospital and in Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility, were conceptualized to care for patients infected with COVID-19, of whom some have Lung COVID.
“These clinics are specialist clinics and use a multidisciplinary team approach, which is the standard of care for treating these patients.
So, given the multitude of symptoms of Lung COVID and the long-term health consequences of COVID-19 infection, it is likely that large numbers of patients will experience complications from COVID-19. This will have a significant impact on our healthcare systems in the coming years.
“So it is extremely important for us, the population, to follow all the public health guidelines that are constantly advised by the Department of Health. The only way to prevent Lung COVID is to prevent COVID-19 infection, ”said Mohammed.