Synopsis
A new study reveals that nearly 70% of individuals impacted by Covid-19 continue to suffer from the same Long Covid symptoms in their second year post-infection. Researchers from Ulm University highlight the persistence of fatigue and exercise intolerance among patients, with a notable lack of major pathology detected in laboratory tests.Key Takeaways
- 70% of long Covid patients experience symptoms into the second year
- Post-exertional malaise affects 35.6% of these patients
- Many patients do not fully recover even after reporting initial improvements
- Patients with long Covid often display reduced physical strength and endurance
- AI may identify a long Covid molecular signature in blood
New Delhi, Jan 25 (NationPress) Approximately 70% of individuals continue to face the same Long Covid symptoms in the second year as they did in the first year post Covid-19 infection, which is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Researchers from Ulm University in Germany carried out a population-based case-control study involving 982 participants aged between 18 and 65 years, all of whom had been diagnosed with self-assessed long Covid.
The results were compared to 576 control patients who did not experience the condition. Among those with long Covid, 35.6% reported post-exertional malaise, or exercise intolerance, according to findings published in the journal PLoS Medicine.
Furthermore, 11.6% of patients exhibited symptoms associated with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. A significant 67.6% of the 982 participants were identified as having ongoing symptoms of long Covid.
Moreover, a majority of the 32% of long Covid patients who initially reported improvements did not achieve full recovery. Those suffering from long Covid also demonstrated notably decreased handgrip strength, maximal oxygen consumption, and ventilatory efficiency (the effectiveness of oxygen exchange in the body).
Importantly, breathlessness was reported as a moderate-to-severe symptom in nearly half of the long Covid patients.
According to the team led by Raphael S. Peter, "In many patients, Long Covid symptoms did not show improvement in the second year of their illness, typically persisting as fatigue, measurable exercise intolerance, and cognitive deficits, yet no major pathology was found in laboratory tests."
Patients with ongoing long Covid symptoms also tended to be more frequently obese, exhibiting higher mean values for body mass index and body fat, along with lower educational attainment.
In a related study involving a cohort of Italian children, it was revealed that artificial intelligence could potentially identify a long Covid molecular signature in the blood of affected patients.
At present, there are no accurate diagnostic tests available for long Covid symptoms. The study published in the journal Pediatric Research demonstrated that an AI model based on protein profiling could identify long Covid with an accuracy of 0.93.
