Some of the earliest COVID-19 survivors still experienced symptoms one year after leaving the hospital, according to a new study.
The study — published in JAMA Network Open — found that 45% of early COVID-19 survivors from Wuhan, China, had at least one COVID-19 symptom one year after they were released from the hospital.
The most common symptoms among these survivors included:
- Fatigue.
- Sweating.
- Chest tightness.
- Anxiety.
- Muscle pain.
The study found that having severe COVID-19 increased the likelihood of having a long-term symptom, too. Per Ars Technica, the study found that 54% of the 680 severe cases observed in the study had at least one symptom one year later. But 41.5% of the 1,752 nonsevere cases had one symptom.
- The study followed up on 2,433 adult patients in Wuhan who were infected with the coronavirus early in the pandemic.
There has been ongoing research about how the coronavirus impacts people for the long term. A study released in May found the majority of severe COVID-19 cases led to long-term symptoms for survivors. As I wrote for the Deseret News, the study found about 75% of patients with severe COVID-19 had at least one long-term symptom.
Per CNN, the study said the most common symptoms were:
- Fatigue.
- Shortness of breath.
- Brain fog or “an inability to concentrate.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN that the COVID-19 vaccine can help stop long-term symptoms from developing.
- “There’s a syndrome that is referred to as long-COVID, which means that you get a syndrome following the clearing of the virus where it could be for months,” he said, according to CNN.