The researchers, led by Professor Judith Rosmalen of the University of Groningen, analyzed data on 76,422 people.
“About one in eight adult patients with Covid-19 (rate 12.7%) subsequently developed long-term symptoms of the disease, estimates a new large Dutch scientific researchwhich was published in the medical journal “The Lancet” and is considered one of the most reliable to date on the issue of the so-called “long Covid-19”.
Of patients diagnosed with Covid-19, 21.4% had at least one new or more severe symptom three to five months after initial coronavirus infection than before infection, compared with 8.7% among people who were not diagnosed with the coronavirus during the same period (the control group for comparison purposes). This fact, according to the Dutch scientists, leads to the conclusion that one eighth of people in the general population (about 13%) show long-term symptoms due to Covid-19.
The main symptoms of the long Covid-19 are, according to the study, chest pain, shortness of breath, pain when breathing, muscle aches, loss of smell and/or taste, lump in the throat, tingling in the extremities, feeling too cold or hot , heaviness in arms or legs and general fatigue. The above symptoms peaked in severity about three months after the initial infection and did not show abatement thereafter.
Other less frequent and severe symptoms were headaches, itchy eyes, dizziness, backaches and nausea. However, the study did not include psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety.
The researchers, led by Professor Judith Rosmalen of the University of Groningen, analyzed data on 76,422 people, of whom 4,231 (5.5%) had been diagnosed with Covid-19. As they pointed out, “the post-Covid-19 syndrome, also known as prolonged Covid-19, is an urgent problem with an increasing impact on humans”.
Commenting on the Dutch study, Professor Christopher Brightling of the UK’s University of Leicester said that “based on the evidence so far, the view is strengthened that prolonged Covid-19 is common and can last for at least two years, although its severe form occurs only in a minority’.
RES-EMP
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