Long-Term Health Effects After Hospitalization for COVID-19

[Argirios Argiriou]

January 20, 2021

Long-Term Health Effects After Hospitalization for COVID-19

Carlos del Rio, MD reviewing Huang C et al. Lancet 2021 Jan 16

Six months after acute COVID-19, 76% of patients discharged from one hospital in Wuhan, China, had at least one persistent symptom, and 23% experienced anxiety or depression.

As COVID-19 is a relatively new disease, its long-term health consequences are not well described. Investigators in Wuhan, China, studied the health condition of 1733 patients discharged from the hospital after admission for acute COVID-19 from January through May 2020 (median age, 57; 52% men, 48% women; median time from discharge to assessment, 153 days). Participants underwent interviews, physical examinations, laboratory tests, and a 6-minute walking test.

Seventy six percent of patients reported at least one symptom at follow-up, more commonly among women and patients with more-severe disease. The most frequent symptoms were fatigue or muscle weakness (63%) and sleep difficulties (26%). Participants who had required a high-flow nasal cannula, mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation were more likely to have persistent symptoms and to have lung diffusion impairment; almost one third of these failed to meet the lower limit of normal in the 6-minute walk. Anxiety or depression were experienced by 23% of patients.

COMMENT

Among patients discharged from the hospital after COVID-19 and followed for 6 months, those with more-severe disease were more likely to have lingering symptoms and impaired pulmonary diffusion capacity. While these data are clinically significant, they may simply represent lasting effects of severe lung disease from COVID-19 rather than a specific effect of the virus. Studies are underway to understand the full range of COVID-19's long-term health consequences — not just those associated with hospitalization for severe disease.

EDITOR DISCLOSURES AT TIME OF PUBLICATION

Disclosures for Carlos del Rio, MD at time of publication
Consultant/Advisory Board   Infectious Diseases Society of America
Grant/Research Support   NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse
Editorial Boards   Clinical Infectious Diseases; JAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
Leadership Positions in Professional Societies   International Antiviral Society–USA (Board of Directors); American Conference for the Treatment of HIV (Board of Directors)

CITATION(S):
Huang C et al. 6-month consequences of COVID-19 in patients discharged from hospital: A cohort study. Lancet 2021 Jan 16; 397:220. (Δεν είναι ορατοί οι σύνδεσμοι (links). Εγγραφή ή Είσοδος)

Δεν είναι ορατοί οι σύνδεσμοι (links). Εγγραφή ή Είσοδος