Coronavirus: Patients with severe inflammation are at risk of dying within the next year – New study

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Patients who when hospitalized due to Covid-19 had developed severe systemic inflammation are in danger of dying within the next 12 months after their apparent recoveryaccording with a new American scientific research. The study, however, shows that if they regularly take steroid medication after discharge from the hospital their risk of dying prematurely due to severe “long Covid-19” is reduced by half.

His researchers Department of Medicine, University of Floridaled by Professor Arts Minuswho published in the medical journal Frontiers in Medicine, studied 1,207 adults who were hospitalized during the two years 2020-21 after Covid-19 infection and who were followed for up to a year after discharge from the hospital. .

The level of C-reactive protein (CRP) in their blood, which is secreted by the liver in response to the signal of inflammation, was used as an indicator of the severity of their inflammation during their hospitalization. The higher the CRP concentration in a patient, the more severe his condition was during his hospitalization.

The study showed that patients with the highest CRP levels during their hospital stay had a 61% higher risk of dying from any cause within the next year after their discharge, compared to those who had the lowest CRP level during their hospitalization. At the same time, however, it was found that the risk of death associated with severe inflammation was reduced again by up to 51% if the patient had taken anti-inflammatory steroid drugs immediately after discharge from the hospital and recovery from the acute phase of Covid-19. .

As Dr. Mainus said, “many infectious diseases are accompanied by an increase in inflammation. Most often, this inflammation is locally focused where the infection is located. But Covid-19 is different because it causes inflammation in many parts of the body beyond the airways of the lungs, for example in the heart, brain and kidneys. High levels of inflammation can lead to tissue damage».

The American researchers pointed out that Covid-19 should be treated as a potentially chronic disease, especially if it was preceded by severe inflammation during the hospitalization phase. For this recommend a broader prescription of oral steroids in these discharged coronavirus patients.

According to Mainus, “when someone has a cold or even pneumonia, we usually think that their illness is over as soon as the patient recovers. This is different from a chronic illness, such as heart failure or diabetes, that continues to affect patients after an acute episode. In a similar way, we need to start thinking that Covid-19 can have lasting effects on many parts of the body after patients recover from the initial episode».

The same researchers had shown last December that People treated for severe Covid-19 and seemingly recovered are more than twice as likely to die within the next year after being discharged, compared with those who had only mild or moderate Covid-19 symptoms and were not treated. The new study confirms that for some patients the so-called “long Covid-19” can even be fatal.

(Scientific publication: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2022.891375/full)

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