People With Severe COVID-19 Have Higher Risk Of Long-Term Effects, Study Finds
at 4:08 pm NPR
The potential lasting effects of COVID-19 infection are many â and people with more severe initial infections are at greater risk for long-term complications, according to a study published Thursday in Nature.
The study, thought to be the largest post-acute COVID-19 study to date, sheds more light on the lingering effects of COVID-19 known as long COVID.
Ziyad Al-Aly and his colleagues used the databases of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to examine health outcomes in more than 73,000 people who d had COVID-19 and were not hospitalized, comparing them with nearly 5 million users of the VA health system who did not have COVID-19 and were not hospitalized.
COVID-19 survivors have increased risk of death for at least six months
As the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed, it has become clear that many survivors -; even those who had mild cases -; continue to manage a variety of health problems long after the initial infection should have resolved.
In what is believed to be the largest comprehensive study of long COVID-19 to date, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis showed that COVID-19 survivors -; including those not sick enough to be hospitalized -; have an increased risk of death in the six months following diagnosis with the virus.
ST. LOUIS Those who have had COVID-19 including those with mild cases have an increased risk of death in the six months following the diagnosis, according to research led by Washington University that is believed to be the largest comprehensive study yet on long-term complications related to the virus.
The study involved more than 87,000 COVID-19 patients and nearly 5 million control patients in a federal database. It was released online Thursday in the journal Nature.
The investigators showed that after the first 30 days of illness, COVID-19 survivors had an almost 60% increased risk of death over the following six months compared with the general population.
Study: COVID-19 Can Kill Months After Infection
April 23, 2021 Long-haul COVID-19 patients face many health threats including a higher chance of dying up to 6 months after they catch the virus, according to a massive study published in the journal
Nature.
A second study, released by the CDC on Friday, also found lingering symptoms months later among COVID-19 patients who originally had mild symptoms.
For the
Nature study, researchers examined more than 87,000 COVID-19 patients and nearly 5 million control patients in a federal database. They found COVID-19 patients had a 59% higher risk of death up to 6 months after infection, compared to non-infected people.