New Delhi: People hospitalised due to Covid-19 faced an increased risk of death or organ-related disorders for up to two-and-a-half years after discharge, a study has found. The previous studies have found that organ damage can persist in almost 60 per cent of patients with long Covid, which refers to symptoms, including fatigue, that linger despite recovering from acute infection.
The study, led by researchers at Bichat Hospital, Paris, conducted in nearly 64,000 French residents also found that the patients experienced a higher rate of deaths from any cause compared to those not hospitalised for Covid-19.
The team said that Covid-19 patients were more likely to be hospitalised for any reason, with particularly high risks for neurological, psychiatric, cardiovascular and respiratory problems.
Women were found to be at an excess risk of hospitalisation due to psychiatric reasons compared to men.
The findings, published in the journal Infectious Diseases, serve as “a stark reminder of the far-reaching impact of COVID-19, which extends far beyond the initial infection”, said lead author Dr Sarah Tubiana, an infectious disease specialist at the Clinical Investigation Center, Bichat Hospital.
The long-term implications for public health are significant as our research shows that those hospitalised due to Covid-19 infection continue to face greater risks of severe health complications months and even years later, Dr Tubiana added.
The researchers followed 63,990 adults hospitalised with Covid-19 between January and August 2020 for a period of 30 months, monitoring deaths and hospital admissions, both for any cause and for specific organ-related conditions.
The participants were on an average aged 65 years. Data from the national health insurance claims database was analysed. Almost 3.2 lakh people from the general population who had not been hospitalised for Covid-19 during the same period were also included in the analysis.
“COVID-19 hospitalised subjects were at increased risk of death or hospitalisation for various organ disorders up to 30 months after discharge, reflecting the multi-organ consequences of the disease,” the authors wrote.
“There was no difference between men and women in the risk of hospitalisation except for psychiatric, for which the excess risk was mainly found in women,” they wrote.
The authors, however, acknowledged that the findings may not fully apply to later variants of the disease-causing virus ‘SARS-CoV-2’, as the study focused on patients infected in early 2020 before new variants emerged.
The study emphasised the need for continued healthcare and monitoring for people once hospitalised with Covid-19 infection, they said.>
