Many face months of lingering symptoms after discharge from COVID hospital

By Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 15, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Most people hospitalized with COVID-19 take months to recover, a new study confirms.

“Patients at my clinic often want to know how long it will take for them to return to their normal state of health,” said the first author of the study. Dr. Andrew AdmonAssistant Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

“Based on this data, it appears that many people hospitalized with COVID-19 should expect symptoms to last up to six months or even longer,” Admon said in a National Institutes press release. of Health (NIH) of the United States.

The researchers reached these conclusions after evaluating data from medical records and follow-up surveys of 825 adults who were treated for COVID-19 between August 2020 and July 2021 at one of 44 medical centers in the United States.

The research team interviewed patients one, three and six months after leaving hospital for general or intensive care treatment.

About six months after hospitalization, almost 75% of patients had at least one cardiopulmonary problem, such as cough or chest problems; swelling of the legs, ankles and feet; or a need for home oxygen support. About 67% of patients had reported this after one month.

After six months, about 51% of patients reported feeling tired, compared to 41% after one month. And around 18% said they felt tired every day, the investigators found.

The problems were not just physical for these adults. More than half said they faced financial hardship, the study authors noted.

About 56% said they experienced financial difficulties after six months, such as being unable to pay their bills, compared to 66% after one month.

According to the report, Hispanic and Black participants, as well as those who reported financial hardship at month one, were more likely to have experienced financial hardship by month six.

About 47% of patients reported having limitations in daily activities, such as eating, preparing meals, bathing or dressing. This was an improvement over responses after one month, when approximately 55% of patients reported these limitations.

For some patients, symptoms came and went, the researchers said.

“These findings will inform programs designed to help adults recover from severe cases of COVID and guide how physicians should check in with patients within one year of hospitalization,” said James Kiley, director of the division of pulmonary diseases at the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. “They can also help shape future clinical research studies.”

The study, which was funded by the NIH, was published online February 14 in Open JAMA Network.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on long COVID.

SOURCE: US National Institutes of Health, press release, February 14, 2023

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