UK study: Half of Covid-19 hospital patients suffered at least one complication, Health News & Top Stories

A large-scale study covering 302 hospitals in Britain found that half of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 suffered from at least one complication, with some potentially leading to long-term health problems such as kidney failure.

The study, involving more than 73,000 patients aged 19 and older, found that such complications occurred even in those who were young and healthy. It has just been published in the famous British medical journal The Lancet.

The article said: “Many of the complications identified are likely to have significant long-term effects. Health systems and policy makers need to prepare for increased population morbidity resulting from Covid-19 and its associated diseases. subsequent complications. “

The most common complication was acute kidney injury, which the authors said “is known to be associated with increased risks of long-term mortality, the need for dialysis, and increased cardiovascular events.”

Such an injury was twice as likely to occur in patients with existing chronic kidney disease – affecting 40 percent of them, compared to 22 percent in patients without previous kidney problems.

Likewise, heart complications affected 20 percent of patients with existing heart problems, compared to 9 percent without previous heart disease.

While kidney and heart complications were more common in older patients, liver damage occurred more often in younger cohorts.

Overall, 21 percent of patients aged 19 to 29 without pre-existing disease suffered from at least one complication, compared to 58 percent of patients aged 60 to 69 who had at least two existing medical conditions.

Of those with complications, 60% were men.

In the youngest cohort, 19 to 29 year olds without a medical condition, 28% of men and 17% of women suffered from a post-infection complication.

The authors said: “This finding contradicts current accounts that Covid-19 is only dangerous in people with existing co-morbidities and the elderly.”

Among previously healthy adults with no recorded medical problems, complications have affected more than four in ten hospital patients.

They added: “Patients with complications are also likely to have a reduced ability to care for themselves after discharge from the hospital.”

After hospitalization, 27% of patients were less able to take care of themselves than before contracting Covid-19. This was more common in older people, who are male and have received intensive care.

The authors suggested: “Policymakers and health care planners should anticipate that large amounts of health and social care resources will be needed to support those who survive Covid-19.

“This includes the adequate provision of personnel and equipment; for example, providing follow-up clinics for those who have experienced complications in hospital such as acute kidney injury or respiratory tract infection. “

Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, an infectious disease specialist at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore, said it would be very interesting and valuable if even a subset of the surviving patients were followed at long term.

“This large-scale UK study quantifies the various hospital complications and potential sequelae of serious Covid-19 infections more accurately, and in a more nuanced fashion than the deaths and survivals to which we are accustomed in government reports and the press, ”he said. mentionned.

However, Professor Dale Fisher, senior infectious disease consultant at National University Hospital, said he was not too concerned that one in two has complications because it only affects people who are hospitalized and not all. infected people.

The solution, he said, is to get as many people vaccinated as possible, as this is the best way to prevent them from contracting the disease, and therefore long-term complications.