AR
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Covid-19 pandemic has killed more than 5.6 million people across the world. It has left millions of recovered people with continuing health problems.
In the UK about 1.3 million people in private households, which is about 2 per cent of the population, have self-reported experiencing long Covid symptoms during end of last year, according to the country’s Office for National Statistics (ONS). ONS suggests around one in seven people who test positive for the coronavirus infection still have symptoms 12 weeks later.
Among the wide variety of symptoms linked to long Covid are fatigue, loss of smell, breathlessness, difficulty concentrating — often dubbed “brain fog” — headaches and muscle aches. For people who are experiencing such symptoms, providers like HCA Healthcare UK are operating clinics to help in recovery.
After-effects seen at the company’s clinics are of such wide variety that specialists including respiratory physicians, rheumatologists, gastroenterologists, radiologists, physiologists, neurologists, cardiologists, nephrologists, clinical psychologists, and rehabilitation and exercise medicine experts can be involved.
“As an initial step, patients are seen by a specialist in the area where their symptoms are most acute. They consider what tests and scans might guide treatment and they can also refer to other specialists,” the company says in a statement.
Rehabilitation programmes are likely to continue for about two to three years, according to Dr Raza Siddiqui, who is executive director of the Long Covid programme at RAK Hospital. He estimates that around 5 per cent of Covid patients suffer continuing complications and says more side effects may appear.
Psychological factors play a big role. Dr Siddiqui says that long Covid is more common in people “who have given up, and are easily stressed or anxious”.
“Long Covid is a combination of factors,” he said. “We only have data for 18 months or so, but depression is a common theme among our patients, and this attracts other complications. Patients must have a strong desire to recover.”
“Indeed, studies have shown that a person’s state of mind before they are infected affects their likelihood of developing long Covid,” says Prof Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine and an infectious diseases specialist at the University of East Anglia in the UK. Post-viral syndromes usually are “very difficult topics to address”.
“It’s real, but how common it is still difficult to know for certain,” he says. “Most studies that have addressed this are known to be highly prone to bias.”
“They say, ‘Are you experiencing symptoms?’ We all experience symptoms all the time. If you’ve had Covid, you may be experiencing symptoms because … you’ve got long Covid or think you have. Higher quality studies have come up with lower estimates.”
While most people are likely to improve over time, some might never return to normal, underlines Dr Andrew Freedman, an infectious diseases specialist at Cardiff University in the UK. “Those who had severe organ damage — lungs or other organs — may not recover completely,” he says.
Vaccination is considered to reduce a person’s chance of developing long Covid. Therefore, as more of the world’s population is vaccinated against coronavirus the numbers of patients with the long Covid condition is likely to reduce.
“Other coronaviruses cause common colds — they don’t usually leave lasting symptoms after the infection, so probably Covid will be much the same,” Dr Freedman says.
For now, though, people with long covid need assistance to help them recover.
At London’s Cromwell Hospital, run by a private healthcare provider BUPA, initial assessment in the Long Covid Clinic includes blood tests, detailed evaluation of heart and lung function and tests on the neurological, hormone and musculoskeletal systems wherever required.
“The most common demographic we’re seeing in our clinic is women aged between mid-20s and mid-50s,” says Dr Brian O’Connor, a consultant in respiratory medicine and lead consultant at the Long Covid Clinic. “These women tend to be high achieving and often have children. The reason they perhaps suffer most with long Covid could be due to the fact they’re returning to a full-on lifestyle too quickly and not allowing their bodies to recover.”
Most patients at the clinic might have had mild Covid-19, but their rather premature return to full-time work or a high-intensity exercise regime may have caused their symptoms to persist.
An exercise regime which is gradual can aid recovery, just like a daily routine in which tasks are completed in the morning, when one has higher energy levels. Dr O’Connor says people should go at their own pace. Experience shows, he says, that symptoms usually improve over time.
“We’re still seeing patients come forward to access the long Covid Clinic at the Cromwell Hospital, as often there’s a lag between having Covid and patients feeling that they are still not fully recovered,” he says.
“I anticipate that rates of long Covid will decrease as more people are fully vaccinated, as fewer people develop Covid in the first place.”
SOURCE: The National News