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Severe Covid survivors may have twice the risk of dying within a year – warns study

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An intriguing new study published in Frontiers in Medicine shows that individuals who survive severe Covid-19 have more than twice the probability of dying within a year of being infected.

Surprisingly, patients under the age of 65 had a higher risk of dying, and only 20% of the severe Covid-19 patients who died couldn’t survive due to common Covid problems including blood clotting issues or respiratory failure.

The study reveals that severe Covid-19 could have long-term health consequences, emphasizing the significance of disease prevention through immunization.

Long-Covid

For vulnerable people, such as the elderly and those with specific underlying diseases, Covid-19 can induce severe symptoms and even death. Long Covid is a condition in which symptoms including fatigue and shortness of breath can last for months after an infection has passed.

But, in the long run, how do Covid-19 patients fare? Researchers have been following patients to learn more about the disease’s long-term effects.

“We conducted a previous study that showed that patients with severe Covid-19 who recovered were at significantly greater risk of being hospitalized in the subsequent six months,” says Prof Arch Mainous, lead author of the study.

“This new study extended that to investigate mortality risk over the next 12 months.”

The researchers analyzed the electronic health records of 13,638 patients who underwent a PCR test for Covid-19 inside the University of Florida health system, finding that 178 people had severe Covid-19, 246 had mild or moderate Covid-19, and the remainder tested negative. All of the study’s subjects recovered from the condition, and the researchers followed their progress for the next 12 months.

The study discovered that individuals who recovered from severe Covid-19 had a considerably increased risk of dying over the next year, compared to those who were not infected and those who had mild or moderate Covid-19. The data revealed some interesting findings, with severe Covid-19 patients under the age of 65 having a 233 percent greater risk of dying when compared to the uninfected. This was much more than the increased risk observed by severe Covid-19 patients over the age of 65 as compared to the uninfected. Due to the fact that these deaths frequently happened years after the original infection, the patients’ relatives or physicians may have never connected them to Covid-19.

Furthermore, the majority of deaths among severe Covid-19 survivors were unrelated to usual illness consequences, such as respiratory or cardiovascular problems. Indeed, 80 percent of such deaths happened for a variety of reasons unrelated to Covid-19. This indicates that the patients’ overall health has deteriorated, leaving them susceptible to a variety of diseases. Mild or moderate Covid-19 infection did not significantly enhance the risk of death when compared to the uninfected, emphasizing the significance of preventing severe disease with immunization.

“Since we now know that there is a substantial risk of dying from what would likely be considered to be an unrecognized complication of Covid-19, we need to be even more vigilant in decreasing severe episodes of Covid-19,” says Mainous.

“Taking your chances and hoping for successful treatment in the hospital doesn’t convey the full picture of the impact of Covid-19. Our recommendation at this point is to use preventive measures, such as vaccination, to prevent severe episodes of Covid-19.” 

Source: 10.3389/fmed.2021.778434

Image Credit: Getty

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