What are the long-term effects of Covid-19 infection? 50 signs


Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first detected in China in December 2019. In the year since then, more than 100 million people have been infected worldwide, and more than 2 million people have died from Covid-19, also called "coronavirus disease - 2019".

Although the scientific and medical community has managed the genetic sequencing (sequencing), diagnosis, treatment, and vaccine prevention of the SARS-CoV-2 virus with unprecedented effort, the long-term effects in individuals after the acute phase of the disease are still not disclosed.

What are the chronic symptoms after Covid-19?
To date, there is no established term to refer to this persistent condition in people with persistent sequelae (disorders from a disease) of COVID-19. Nevertheless, this situation has been expressed in various articles using the following terms;

Long-COVID-19
Long Haulers
Post-acute COVID-19
Persistent COVID-19 Symptoms
Post COVID-19 Manifestations (symptoms after Covid-19)
Long-term COVID-19 Effects (long term Covid-19 effects)
Post Covid-19 Syndrome (post Covid-19 syndrome)
What happens after getting over the Covid-19 disease?
Covid-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus may include sequelae and other medical complications (problems) called Long - Covid or Covid long - haulers during the period from weeks to months after the initial recovery. In other words, the inability to return to the basic health line after getting rid of the Covid-19 disease and permanent symptoms, findings or abnormal clinical differences potentially suggest that the disease may have long-term effects.

A study aimed at identifying the long-term effects of Covid-19 disease with a systematic evaluation and meta-analysis (analysis of historical data) was conducted. The study includes reviewing peer articles to determine the frequency of recurrence of any symptoms, findings, or abnormal laboratory parameters extending beyond the acute phase of Covid-19 to date.

What is a meta-analysis? Meta-analysis is the most comprehensive research that combines the results of multiple independent studies on a particular subject and performs statistical analysis of the findings. Meta-analysis results are scientifically the strongest evidence.

In the study, until January 1, 2021, certain keywords (long-term covid, post-covid chronic conditions, complications, recurring conditions, permanent conditions and recovery process) were used, including at least 100 people, and the symptoms, findings and parameters were reported, peer-reviewed Articles published in journals were scanned.

What are the long-term effects of Covid-19?
What are the long-term effects of Covid 19 chronic symptoms
In the study, which included 47,910 patients aged 17 to 87 years, follow-up time after viral infection ranged from 14 to 110 days. With the result of the study, it is estimated that 80% of the patients develop one or more long-term symptoms, but it has not been determined whether the symptoms are related to gender, age, ethnicity, any underlying health problem, virus burden or advanced disease. Most of these symptoms are similar to those that develop in the acute phase of Covid-19.

The 5 most common long-term effects of the new coronavirus infection are:
Fatigue (58%) (more common in women)
Headache (44%)
Attention disorder (27%)
Hair loss (25%)
Shortness of breath (24%)
Although such changes are mostly reported in people who survived severe and critical Covid-19 disease, they have also occurred as long-term effects in mildly infected individuals who do not need hospitalization.

Other long term effects;
Lung conditions

Cough
Chest pains
Decreased pulmonary diffusion (O2-CO2 exchange capacity in the lung)
Sleep apnea
Pulmonary fibrosis
Cardiovascular disorders

Arrhythmias (rhythm disturbances)
Myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle)
Neurological disturbances

Dementia
Depression
Anxiety (anxiety)
Attention disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD)
In addition, there are symptoms such as hair loss, tinnitus and night sweats that cannot be attributed to a specific cause.
Tiredness
Fatigue is the most common (58%) observed long-term effect of Covid-19.
In diseases such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), clinically significant fatigue symptoms were observed in more than two-thirds of patients even one year after recovery. There are also people who show signs of fatigue even 100 days after the first symptoms of acute Covid-19 disease.
After Covid-19, the presence of symptoms such as severe fatigue, pain, neurocognitive disability, insomnia in patients is similar to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome include viruses, immune dysfunction (immune system disorder), endocrine-metabolic dysfunction, and neuropsychiatric factors. Infection agents associated with CFS are Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, enterovirus and herpesvirus. For this reason, it is thought that SARS-CoV-2 can be added to the list of viruses that cause KYS.

Neurological Symptoms: Headache and Attention disorder
Of the neurological symptoms, headache and disturbance of attention are among the top five most common long-term effects, while anosmia (loss of smell - 21%) is also among the most common long-term symptoms, if not in the top five. In addition, it is thought that mental confusion and neuropathy (sensory and motor loss due to nerve damage), although not included in the reviewed articles, may also be the long-term effects of Covid-19.

In addition, adults may be at risk for a new psychiatric condition after a Covid-19 diagnosis. The most common of these psychiatric disorders have been observed as anxiety, insomnia (which can also cause other psychiatric problems) and dementia.

Hair loss
Hair loss after Covid-19 is considered Telogen Effluvium, which is defined as a factor that causes significant systematic stress or post-infection hair loss. This is due to early follicular transitions from active growth phase (anagen) to resting phase (telogen). It lasts for approximately 3 months, but can cause emotional distress.

Shortness of breath
It is a symptom of shortness of breath in 24% of Covid-19 patients and cough in 19%. Even between 60 and 100 days after the disease was diagnosed, this condition and disorders in lung CT (computed tomography) scans continued in 35% of the patients. In 10% of the patients, there are lung disorders such as decreased pulmonary diffusion capacity.

In China, on the other hand, in a study on hospitalized patients who suffer from Covid-19 but did not have severe disease, it was reported that two-thirds of the patients continued to have radiographic differences 90 days after discharge.

Although not mentioned in the reviewed articles, the following symptoms are also among the identified 50 long-term effects;
Sudden weight loss
Earache
Eye problems
Sneeze
Cold nose
Burning sensation in the windpipe
Dizziness
Heart palpitations
Pain or burning sensation in the lungs
Pain between the shoulder blades
Sikka syndrome (also known as dryness syndrome; dry mouth and eyes)
Vertigo
Body aches
Confusion (confusion)
In addition, an increase in the following markers was reported in the data obtained from the studies;
D-dimer (20%)
NT-proBNP (11%)
C-Reactive Protein (CRP) (8%)
Serum ferritin (8%)
Procalcitonin (PCT) (4%)
IL-6 (3%)
Why does Covid-19 have long-term effects?
The reason why some patients experience long-term symptoms after COVID-19 is unclear. This may be partly explained by host-controlled factors that affect the outcome of viral infection, including genetic predisposition, age of the patient, dose and route of infection, entry of anti-inflammatory cells and proteins, presence of concurrent infections, past exposure to cross-reactive agents.
Whether SARS-CoV-2 can cause significant tissue damage that causes a chronic form of the disease, such as chronic lesions in the healing period observed in viruses such as HIV, hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and some herpesviruses, is still unknown.
Last word: in order to minimize the damage to this disease and to the body, organic nutrition always do sports, stay away from stress, please human life is important. Do not forget that protecting yourself and the health of other people is a human duty. (BULENT)