A recent study has revealed that a third of symptomatic patients with novel corona virus disease or COVID-19 appear to develop persistent symptoms. Meanwhile, a third of all patients with polymerase chain reaction or PCR-confirmed COVID-19 are asymptomatic, underscoring the heterogeneity of its appearance.
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| Photo: COVID-19 Patients Develop Persistent Symptoms| InStyleHealth |
Experts performed a cohort study including 445 patients
with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 but had no need for hospitalization. Experts used
digital questionnaires to evaluate the demographics and symptoms. Persistent
symptoms were described as those lasting >4 weeks.
From the total sample, 34% were considered to be completely
asymptomatic, leaving 238 patients who had experienced symptoms, more than half
of whom felt their first symptom within a few hours. Symptomatic patients,
commonly, complained of fatigue, headache, and sneezing, as well as severe
instances of reduced taste and smelling.
Most of the symptomatic patients said that their
symptoms had disappeared within 2 weeks. There was a total of 198 symptomatic
patients provided follow-up data exceeding 4 weeks; out of 198 patients, 36%
had persistent symptoms reported.
Fatigue came out as the most common persistent symptom,
as reported by 16% of the respondents. Followed by difficulties with
concentration or memory at 13%, reduced sense of smell at 10%, and shortness of
breath at 10%.
It appears that women seemed to be more likely to
experience persistent symptoms, as were those who had high body mass index or
BMI.
Researchers said that although data should be reproduced
due to possible limitations of survival or recall bias, these findings should
be taken into account in the future healthcare planning and policy making related
to COVID-19 prevention, detection, treatment, and follow-up.
Source: Sci Rep 2021;11:13153