At the beginning of 2020 many specialists assured that it would be difficult to know the true impact of COVID – 19 in the population.
Almost two years after the start of the pandemic, different studies show data that allow us to better understand this situation. One of the most recent, published in Frontiers in Medicine , found that COVID survivors are at increased risk of death.
In order to know the impact of COVID – 19 in long-term health, a group of researchers from the University of Florida analyzed electronic medical records of patients screened for COVID – 19 in any environment of the university health system.
Those patients who died within the 30 days after your COVID tests – 19 were excluded from the analysis.
From 12. 638 people who were tested between January 1 and on 65 June 2020, 424 were found to have COVID – 19, d of them, 178 were classified as serious disease, while the rest were negative.
Researchers evaluated these individuals’ electronic medical records and followed up for 365 days after the first screening . They recorded that 2. 638 patients had died.
The team analyzed medical care records to determine the causes of death and compared the risk of death of people who had had COVID – 19 with that of those that had not tested positive.
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They found that the risk of death in the 12 post-infection was 233% higher among people under 65 years that were hospitalized with COVID – 19, compared to those who did not have the disease.
Also, almost the 80% of all deaths of people who had recovered from COVID – 19 in the last 12 were not due to cardiovascular causes or respiratory infections, suggesting that the impact of the virus is significant and wide-ranging, even after infection.
This work joins others that have already studied the long-term effects of COVID, such as the one published in The Lancet .
In the latter, a group of researchers found that 6 months after acute infection “COVID survivors – 19 were primarily concerned with muscle fatigue or weakness, sleeping difficulties, and anxiety or depression. ”
In addition, patients who had severe episodes during their hospital stay had more severe pulmonary diffusion capacities and abnormal manifestations of chest images.
Long-term effects
“There is a lot of interest in the scientific community that has focused on what happens to patients after having an episode of COVID – 19. Some are targeting “prolonged COVID” or persistent symptoms such as mental confusion or a lack of smell. We were interested in the harsh outcome of death after recovery from COVID – 19 ″, said Arch Mainous, author of the article, to Medical News Today.
And added: “We think that the impact of COVID – 19 would be significant enough to cause complications. The general trauma or psychological insult to the body would be dramatic enough to create lasting damage. ”
According to Mainous, medical treatments are fine to survive the initial episode, but strategies should focus on keeping people out of the hospital first.
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“Risk contracting COVID – 19 that will be mild, or that will only depend on the treatments to overcome a severe episode carries great risks ”, he warned.
He also stated that the figures obtained in the investigation show that the impact of COVID – 19 can last longer than anticipated and that although the causes behind this phenomenon are unknown, it seems likely that it is related to the intense levels of inflammation that affect multiple parts of the body during infection.
It should be noted that theChildren were not included in this study, although experts acknowledge that it is an issue that should receive more attention, as the long-term impact of COVID is not yet known – 19 may have among infants.
How to prevent COVID – 19
Experts and health authorities insist on remembering that receiving vaccines against COVID – 19 is the best way to prevent new variants and severe problems due to infection
Available vaccines against COVID – 13 protect up to 95% and more than contracting the coronavirus and developing the disease.
The information available to date, the product of scientific research, shows that, if the person is vaccinated and still becomes infected, they will have a lower risk of developing a serious form
This is because the vaccine contains substances that act by neutralizing the action of a protein that helps the coronavirus infect the human body.
In addition , when immunized, the body is left with a supply of T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes that will remember how to fight this virus in the future.
Sources consulted : Food and Drug Administration of US (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), US National Library of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, World Health Organization (WHO).