Study indicates a Third of COVID survivors have long term symptoms

A Third of COVID Survivors Have Long-Haul Symptoms Months after illness clears, many say symptoms like fatigue, loss of smell or taste and "brain fog" persist. WebMD

(HealthDay News) -- Many patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 could become "long haulers," suffering symptoms months after they clear their non-life-threatening infection, new research shows.

About 33% of COVID-19 patients who were never sick enough to require hospitalization continue to complain months later of symptoms like fatigue, loss of smell or taste and "brain fog," University of Washington (UW) researchers found.

"We were surprised to have one-third of people with mild illness still experiencing symptoms," said lead researcher Jennifer Logue. She's a research scientist with the UW department of medicine's division of allergy and infectious diseases, in Seattle. "If you contract coronavirus, there's a good chance you could experience a lingering effect."

These results show why everyone should protect themselves against coronavirus infection, given that the 177 Seattle-area patients tracked in the study were relatively young and healthy, said Dr. Kristin Englund, an infectious disease specialist who leads the Cleveland Clinic's COVID long-hauler recovery clinic.

More than 90% of the patients (average age: 48) suffered only mild to moderate COVID-19 and didn't need hospitalization, the study authors said. Few had health problems that would put them at risk for serious COVID-19 infection (for example, only 13% had high blood pressure, 5% had diabetes and 4.5% were active smokers).

"It's not just our hospitalized patients we have to focus in on," Englund said. "There are a lot of patients out there who can still continue to have these persisting and really life-altering symptoms."

Nearly 28 millionCOVID-19 infections have been reported in the United States, which could mean millions of Americans suffering from symptoms that last months and possibly years, she said.

"If you take 30% of that who could have potential impacts on their quality of life in the next six to nine months, we're talking about huge numbers," Englund said. ...