Chinese study: Half of Corona patients still suffer from complaints after years

Nearly half of people hospitalized with COVID-19 still have at least one persistent complaint after at least a year, according to a Chinese study. In most cases it is shortness of breath or fatigue.

According to the British journal The Lancet that published the study, it is the largest study on the consequences of the so-called long-term Covid.

Shortness of breath and psychological complaints

The researchers followed more than 1,000 patients hospitalized in Wuhan for a year at the beginning of 2020. These were people who became so ill that they had to be put on a ventilator. These patients did not end up in the intensive care unit (ICU).

One in three patients surveyed still had shortness of breath a year after being infected. Researchers say the potential for long-term symptoms increases as the disease progresses. Psychological problems also occur: twelve months after the injury up to more than 6 months after the injury.

Long Covid

According to The Lancet, the study shows that authorities must continue to care for Covid patients in the long term. “This is a first-class medical challenge,” the magazine wrote.

Previous research has shown that more than 6 per cent of Britons who have contracted coronavirus suffer long-term consequences. In the Netherlands, Patient Group Long Covid Netherlands recently put the number of long-term Covid patients at 100,000. That would amount to nearly 6 per cent of the number of infections recorded so far.