Long-term COVID-19 continues to pose a serious health risk to many people even as the pandemic fades. The term “long COVID” describes a variety of enduring symptoms that impact several bodily systems and endure after the initial recovery from acute COVID-19. Fatigue, breathing problems, cognitive problems like brain fog, joint discomfort, and a persistent cough are some of the symptoms. These symptoms can greatly interfere with day-to-day living and persist for months.
In May of last year, the World Health Organization deemed COVID-19 a worldwide health emergency; yet, efforts to combat its effects are still ongoing. People who have had COVID-19 are not the only ones who have long COVID, according to recent research from the University of Oxford. It can also appear after other severe respiratory conditions, which makes the state of world health more complicated. This study compared hospitalized COVID-19 patients, those with other lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), and a control group that did not have any hospitalizations by analyzing data from 190,000 people.
The results showed that, in comparison to the control group, hospitalized COVID-19 patients had a higher incidence of 23 out of 45 potential physical and psychological symptoms. Post-acute consequences are common across many respiratory diseases, as evidenced by the 18 symptoms described by patients admitted for non-COVID LRTIs. Significantly, compared to other groups, the neurological and cognitive abnormalities in long-term COVID patients were more severe, indicating unique and serious brain-related effects.
Inadequate research and clinical recommendations make controlling long-term COVID more difficult. The absence of thorough research and established treatment guidelines makes it challenging for medical professionals to diagnose and treat the illness. In nations like India, where many COVID-19 cases were documented during the epidemic, the situation is especially serious. Despite this, there is still a great deal to learn about the incidence and consequences of long-term COVID, which makes it challenging to develop efficient national treatment plans.
Prioritizing research on extended COVID is crucial as healthcare systems struggle with these issues in order to better understand its effects and enhance patient care. In addition to improving the outcomes for individual patients, addressing the difficulties of extended COVID will also assist guide public health policies and resource allocation in the ongoing response to the pandemic’s long-term impacts.
SOURCE :
TIMES OF INDIA
