Way after the Covid-19 pandemic subsides in intensity, the global healthcare systems are going to be faced with a major issue — long Covid and options to treat it, as hinted by British researchers led by Oxford University late last week. The statement is based on reviews of the illness’ effects on patients. The study, published in the European Heart Journal, looked at direct impacts of a Covid-19 infection such as myocardial infarction or inflammatory myocarditis — severe heart conditions — and long-term effects such as fatigue and mental well-being. “Long Covid is, besides its huge impact for the affected individual, of great societal and economic importance as it leads to leave of absence from work, reduced work performance and hence unforeseen costs,” said Thomas Lüscher from the Royal Brompton and Harefield Clinical Group.
Meanwhile, another new study found Covid-19 can lead to heart problems even after one has recovered from the virus. After a month of recovering from Covid infection, the patients had all sorts of cardiac issues, Augusta University Cardiovascular Center cardiologist Dr Vishal Aurora explained. The finding is that the risk of 20 different heart and blood vessel issues increased in Covid-19 patients up to one year later. “These include things like heart attack, heart failure, heart rhythm problems and blood clots, which are a big problem in this population,” Aurora said. Even patients without severe Covid-19 symptoms could end up with an increased risk of heart problems.
“I’ve seen both healthy patients after Covid-19 infections who had long Covid syndrome as long as patients with who had underlying disease or risk factors for disease that become manifest as result of Covid-19 infection,” Aurora said. It is learnt that Covid-19 damages the lining in blood vessels which causes the virus to impact other parts of the body. “That’s why patients who have long Covid, have symptoms that are related to their brain, heart, kidneys and even legs,” Aurora said. According to him, getting vaccinated and social distancing and taking precautions to prevent getting Covid-19 is the best thing anyone can do.
At the same time, a new comprehensive review by the UK Health Security Agency, has said vaccination against Covid-19 reduces the risk of developing long Covid and improves long Covid symptoms among those who were unvaccinated when infected. The review includes data from 15 UK and international studies, with seven studies examining whether Covid-19 vaccination before infection protects against developing long Covid and seven studies looking at the impact of vaccination among people who already had long Covid. One study examined both.
In six studies, those who received one or two vaccine doses before Covid-19 infection were less likely to develop symptoms of long Covid after infection. In two studies, fully vaccinated people were less likely than unvaccinated people to develop medium- or long-term symptoms such as fatigue, headache, weakness in the arms and legs, persistent muscle pain, hair loss, dizziness, shortness of breath, loss of smell or lung scarring.
In addition, three studies comparing long Covid symptoms before and after vaccination found that most people reported an improvement in symptoms after vaccination, either immediately or over several weeks. A few cases reported a worsening in symptoms after vaccination. There is also evidence that unvaccinated people with long Covid who were subsequently vaccinated had, on average, reduced long Covid symptoms, or fewer long Covid symptoms than those who remained unvaccinated. Scientists aren’t yet sure why vaccination leads to an improvement in symptoms for some people. Additional research is being conducted.
