By John Ikani
A report published in Nature’s Scientific Reports has uncovered 55 long term effects of having COVD-19.
According to the study, the effects are worse for those hospitalised for the virus, even after getting a clean bill from doctors.
How The Study Was Carried Out
The findings were published after scientists reviewed thousands of publications for studies of long term COVID effects.
In the course of carrying out the study, the researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 47,910 patients, ages 17 to 87.
The most common long term side effect, they found, is fatigue, affecting 58% of people in the study.
Here are the 25 most common long term COVID symptoms, according to the meta-analysis:
•Fatigue (58%)
•Headaches (44%)
•Attention disorder (27%)
•Hair loss (25%)
•Dyspnoea, or difficulty breathing (24%)
•Ageusia, or loss of taste (23%)
•Anosmia, or loss of smell (21%)
•Post-activity polypnea, or heavy breathing/panting/sweating (21%)
•Joint pain (19%)
•Cough (19%)
•Sweat (17%)
•Nausea or vomiting (16%)
•Chest pain (16%)
•Memory loss (16%)
•Hearing loss or ringing in the ears (15%)
•Anxiety (13%)
•Depression (12%)
•Digestive disorders (12%)
•Weight loss (12%)
•Cutaneous signs, or skin and dermatological issues (12%)
•Increase in resting heart rate (11%)
•Palpitations (11%)
•Pain (11%)
•Intermittent fever (11%)
•Sleep disorder (11%)
The 30 other long term COVID symptoms identified are less common, and include everything from psychiatric disorders to kidney failure. (See the full list from the study here.)
The study included side effects reported anywhere from 14 days to 110 days after infection.
Some who caught COVID-19 in the first wave of the pandemic, in early 2020, are still battling fatigue and brain fog. Because the virus is so new, we don’t know yet if these effects will ever go away.
