In a new study, researchers found about half of survivors of COVID-19 who have been hospitalized report symptoms that did not exist before their COVID-19 illness.
The research was conducted by a team at Université Paris-Saclay.
In the study, the team tested survivors of COVID-19 who had been hospitalized between March 1 and May 29, 2020.
At four months after discharge, 478 participants underwent a telephone evaluation, and respiratory, cognitive, and functional symptoms were assessed.
Via the telephone interview, the researchers found that 244 patients (51%) declared at least one symptom that did not exist before COVID-19, including fatigue, cognitive symptoms, and new-onset dyspnea in 31, 21, and 16 percent, respectively.
One hundred seventy-seven patients (37%) underwent further examination.
The median 20-item Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory score was 4.5 and 3.7 for reduced motivation and mental fatigue, respectively.
About 63% of the patients had computed tomographic lung-scan abnormalities, mainly subtle ground-glass opacities.
About 19% of the patients had fibrotic lesions; in all but one patient, the lesions involved less than 25% of parenchyma.
About 39% of survivors with acute respiratory distress syndrome had fibrotic lesions.
Anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic symptoms were seen in 23%, 18%, and 7%, respectively, of 94 former intensive care unit patients.
These findings revealed wide-ranging physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms at four months following hospitalization for COVID-19.
The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. One author of the study is Luc Morin, M.D.
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