This is the longest study to date on the effects of long Covid-19, also known as post-Covid-19 syndrome. Until now, long Covid-19 had not been studied more than one year after the initial infection.
The researchers, led by Professor Bin Chao of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, who published the paper in the pulmonary journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, followed up 1.192 people with an average age of 57 years who were treated with Covid-19 in Wuhan, the epicentre of the pandemic in 2020.
They found that the physical and mental health of the patients showed improvement over time, regardless of the severity of their initial disease. But 55% more than half reported after two years that they had at least one symptom caused by the initial Covid-19 infection. The proportion with at least one symptom was 68% at least two in three six months after the initial infection.
Overall, according to the researchers, patients who went through Covid-19 tend to have worse health after two years than the general population, and some seem to take even longer to fully recover. About half had symptoms after two years, mainly fatigue or muscle weakness (31%) and sleep difficulties (31%). A smaller proportion had shortness of breath, joint pain, palpitations, dizziness and headaches.
They also felt that their overall quality of life was worse than before they were infected with coronavirus, had more difficulty exercising physically, experienced more psychological problems (such as anxiety and depression at about 12%), and had more frequent visits to various doctors.
Source: APE-MPE
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