Recently, there has been more and more discussion about the sequelae of the new crown, and it is also you who sang on Weibo:
Image source: Weibo screenshot
We know more and more about the new crown virus, in case of infection, many friends are eager to know - what is the probability of the sequelae of the new crown?
Let's first talk about what is the "sequelae".
According to everyone's general understanding, it is that you have a certain disease that has been cured, but there are still some small problems after a period of time, which is called "sequelae".
After infection with the new crown, some patients will still have some symptoms after a few months, we can simply understand these as the sequelae of the new crown, called "Long COVID" or "Post-COVID conditions" abroad more.
To be precise, calling it a long-term symptom of COVID-19 would be more appropriate than a "sequelae".
Current research has found that the new crown does not only bring lung problems, but also the body's multiple organs and systems, which may have long-term symptoms.
But don't panic, long-term symptoms are not unique to the new crown infection, many respiratory infectious diseases may have long-term symptoms. For example, the well-known flu, the flu itself has long-term symptoms.
According to a study published in the United States last year, about 42% of COVID-19 patients and 30% of people with influenza reported at least one symptom 3 to 6 months after infection.
What are the long-term symptoms?
What is the high proportion of occurrences?
The results of a STUDY of COVID-19 sequelae in the UK involving more than 26,000 people living with COVID-19 should be one of the largest studies of long-term COVID-19 symptoms to date.
Unlike some previous studies, this study has a specific "control group", which is very critical.
Many long-term symptoms of the new crown are also more common in ordinary life, and for infected people, the appearance of symptoms in the weeks or even months after infection is not necessarily directly related to the new crown virus infection.
Setting up a control group can help eliminate these distractions and allow us to better analyze the problems that the new crown really brings.
Image source: References
The findings of the study (emphasis come):
4 to 8 weeks after infection, 9.4% of infected people develop symptoms (4.1% in the control group);
At 12 to 16 weeks after infection, 5.0% of infected people develop symptoms (3.4% in the control group).
The probability of symptoms in the infected group decreased over time, while the control group was largely flat (due to seasonal, weather, and social activity).
Specific long-term symptoms, the main ones are:
Relatively speaking, anxiety/depression has the highest rate, but various pain manifestations are the most persistent and the effects are more pronounced in women and young patients.
Other long-term symptoms that may be mentioned have not been detected, including hair loss and sexual dysfunction.
In addition, scientists have also found long-term symptoms characterized by a number of populations:
1. Children are less likely to develop long-term symptoms than adults
For the 50-69-year-old group, the probability of developing symptoms at 12 to 16 weeks after infection was 5.8%, compared with 3.0% for children aged 12 to 16 years, and even lower than that of the control group (3.2% vs 4.1%) for children aged 2 to 11 years.
2. Women are higher than men
In the case of 12 to 16 weeks post-infection, the probability of developing long-term symptoms is 5.4% in women and 4.5% in men.
3. People with underlying medical conditions are higher than those without underlying medical conditions
Still take 12 to 16 weeks after infection, the former is 7.4%, the latter is 4.5%.
4. Long-term symptoms are more pronounced in infected people with obvious initial symptoms and high viral load
Overall, 12 to 16 weeks after infection, some infected people will have long-term symptoms. Women, adults aged 50 to 69 years, people with pre-existing underlying medical conditions, and those with high viral loads and severe infections at the time of infection have a relatively high proportion of long-term symptoms.
What about the long-term symptoms of Omicron?
There may be friends who still have questions, this research data comes from the original strain, Alpha, Delta or something - is there any Amy Kerong?
That's a good question.
It has to be admitted that there is still a lack of accurate data on the long-term symptoms of Omi kerong in the world, and more follow-up studies are needed on its long-term symptoms, but there are currently some research data on the severity of symptoms after Omiljung infection:
Overall, it was consistent with other previous studies: Omilton infected people had more upper respiratory tract symptoms and fewer lower respiratory tract symptoms, and the more significant changes were sore throat, an increase in the proportion of runny nose, and a decrease in the proportion of taste/smell loss.
In particular, the loss of taste/smell, which was previously in the spotlight, has dropped from 44% to 13% now.
According to the previous data, the initial symptoms of infection are not severe, and the long-term symptoms will not be too serious, and it is reasonable to infer that the appearance of Omi kerong will further reduce the long-term symptoms of the new crown as a whole.
So from the current research, the so-called new crown "sequelae" does exist, that is, many long-term symptoms may also appear after other respiratory virus infections (such as influenza), the new crown is not so special.
In general, the long-term symptoms of the new crown are not so serious, the incidence rate is not as high as everyone thought at the beginning, especially in children, and considering that the symptoms of Omi kerong are milder than the previous strains, everyone really does not need to panic too much about the long-term symptom problem.
More studies have also shown that the more severe the symptoms at the time of infection, the higher the proportion of long-term symptoms. These long-term symptoms also lessen over time.
Fortunately, for those of us who have been battling COVID-19 for two years, there are already many ways to reduce the risk of severe illness after the unfortunate contraction of the new crown virus.
The simplest point is to get vaccinated.
This article is co-authored by experts
This article is reviewed by experts
bibliography
[1] Taquet M, Dercon Q, Luciano S, et al. Incidence, co-occurrence, and evolution of long-COVID features: A 6-month retrospective cohort study of 273,618 survivors of COVID-19[J]. PLoS medicine, 2021, 18(9): e1003773.
[2] Ayoubkhani D, Pawelek P, Gaughan C. Technical article: Updated estimates of the prevalence of post-acute symptoms among people with coronavirus (COVID-19) in the UK: 26 April 2020 to 1 August 2021[J]. Office for National Statistics, 2021.
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