Until now, it was thought that 25% to 40% of people with Covid-19 developed lasting symptoms. But this statistic is mostly based on hospitalized patients. What about those affected by a mild or moderate form?
It was to find out more that researchers from the Luxembourg Institute of Health interviewed nearly 300 people a year after they were diagnosed with Covid-19. Each of the participants had to complete a questionnaire to find out if they still experienced common symptoms linked to Covid.
Result: 6 out of 10 participants still had at least one manifestation of Covid. Fatigue, shortness of breath and irritability being the most common. In detail, 34% suffered from fatigue one year later, 13% said that respiratory symptoms affected their quality of life and more than half had persistent sleep problems.
Without too many surprises, participants with a mild to moderate form of the disease were twice as affected as those affected by an asymptomatic form. And those who developed a serious to severe form were even more so.
The authors further noted that when the symptoms of Covid-19 had not disappeared 15 weeks after infection, it was very likely that they were still present 1 year later.
“This shows that the long Covid can still have a significant impact on quality of life, even one year after the acute infection”, launch the researchers. “In general, the more severe the disease, the more likely a person is to have persistent symptoms. However, those with an asymptomatic or mild initial infection may also experience a deterioration in their quality of life. »