By Carolyn Crist
Fatigue, post-exercise malaise, and cognitive dysfunction (or mental confusion) are the most common symptoms reported by patients who suffered from COVID-19, 6 months after contracting the coronavirus, according to a new preliminary study published on MedRxiv.
Most people also experienced relapses, which were triggered by stress or exercise, and many were still unable to work at full capacity.
"We believe it is vital at this time to collect and present a comprehensive dataset that reflects the long and multifaceted COVID experiences reported by patients," wrote Athena Akrami, lead author of the study and a neuroscientist at University College London.
Most COVID-19 patients recover within a few weeks, but a growing number of people have reported symptoms lasting for months that affect multiple organs. The preprint study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, is one of the largest studies to date to capture the range of problems that affect prolonged recovery from COVID-19.
Published by Patient Led Research for COVID-19 , a group of long COVID patients who are also researchers, the study surveyed more than 3,700 people from 56 countries who contracted COVID-19 between December 2019 and May 2020. Overall, they recorded 205 symptoms across 10 organ systems, and 66 symptoms were tracked over 7 months. On average, respondents experienced symptoms from nine different organ systems.
Approximately 65% of respondents experienced symptoms for at least six months. They most frequently reported fatigue, post-exercise malaise, and mental confusion, but also highlighted neurological sensations, headaches, memory problems, muscle aches, insomnia , heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, balance problems, and speech difficulties. Less common symptoms included facial paralysis , new allergies, seizures, vision and hearing problems, and prolonged loss of taste and smell.
Approximately 45% of people said they still needed reduced working hours, and 22% were not working at all due to their ongoing health issues.
Because the respondents were selected from support groups, the data do not necessarily represent the entire population of long COVID patients. However, the study provides a glimpse into the ongoing struggles that COVID-19 patients may face.
“This is a chapter that has yet to be written in medical textbooks, and hardly any major research has been published. Part of the progress here is simply adding large numbers and statistics to the existing anecdotal sense of what has been happening. No one can tackle the condition until we are able to better narrate what is going on,” Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, told The Guardian .
The study authors called for long-term follow-up programs to care for patients and further studies to understand the full impact of COVID-19 on the brain and body. They found that long-term neurological symptoms appeared common even among patients with less severe illness.
“Given the millions of COVID-19 cases worldwide, the prevalence of long COVID is likely to be substantial and will only increase as the virus continues to spread,” the authors wrote. “This research demonstrates just how expansive and debilitating this long illness can be, with profound impacts on people’s livelihoods and their ability to care for themselves and their loved ones.”
Sources:
MedRxiv, "Characterization of long COVID in an international cohort: 7 months of symptoms and its impact."
Patient-led research for COVID-19, "About patient-led research."
Athena Akrami, «Twitter post at 6:34 pm on December 29, 2020».
The Guardian, "Many 'long Covid' sufferers are unable to work fully six months later ."