{"id":2797,"date":"2021-08-25T16:25:07","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T16:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=2797"},"modified":"2021-08-25T16:25:07","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T16:25:07","slug":"these-symptoms-and-risk-factors-may-predict-whether-you-could-become-a-covid-19-long-hauler-study-suggests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=2797","title":{"rendered":"These symptoms and risk factors may predict whether you could become a ‘COVID-19 long hauler,’ study suggests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Authors: Adrianna Rodriguez<\/a> USA TODAY March 11, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new study suggests coronavirus symptoms felt in the first week of infection may be a predictor of how long they will last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patients with COVID-19 who felt more than five symptoms in their first week of illness were more likely to become a “COVID-19 long hauler,” which researchers qualified as having symptoms for longer than 28 days, according to the study published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Medicine.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The five symptoms experienced during the first week that were most predictive of becoming a long hauler were fatigue, headache, hoarse voice, muscle pain and difficulty breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers from King\u2019s College London, Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children\u2019s Hospital asked COVID-19 patients from the U.K., U.S. and Sweden to report their symptoms through a smartphone application from March to September 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out of more than 4,000 participants, about 13% of patients reported symptoms lasting more than 28 days, 4% for more than 8 weeks and 2% more than 12 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out of the patients who reported symptoms for more than four weeks, “a third of those will have symptoms at 8 weeks and then a third of those at 12 weeks,” said study co-author Dr. Christina Astley, a physician scientist at Boston Children’s Hospital. “If you think about it, 1 in 20 people who have COVID-19 will have symptoms lasting 8 weeks or more.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The likelihood of having persistent symptoms was significantly associated with increasing age, rising from 9.9% of individuals 18 to 49,\u00a0to 21.9% in those above 70. Anosmia, or the loss of smell, was the most common symptom in older age groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women also were more likely to have long COVID-19 than men, with 14.9% of female study participants reporting symptoms 28 days after initial infection, compared with 9.5% of men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the study attempted to identify risk factors and markers that may indicate long COVID-19, doctors are finding it can happen to anyone at any age, said Dr. Michael Wechsler, a pulmonologist at National Jewish Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt can happen in any age group, but it\u2019s most alarming to younger people who are otherwise healthy and not used to these symptoms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVID long haulers:<\/strong>Dr. Anthony Fauci aims to answer ‘a lot of important questions’ in new nationwide initiative<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study found two main patterns among study participants. One group of COVID-19 long haulers exclusively reported fatigue, headache and upper respiratory issues, such as shortness of breath, sore throat, cough and loss of smell. However, a second group of long haulers had persistent multi-system complaints, such as a fever or gastrointestinal symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weschler sees a wide array of symptoms in the clinic that caters to COVID-19 long haulers at National Jewish Health. Similar clinics have popped up in hospitals across the country to accommodate the growing number of COVID-19 patients who report symptoms months after recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLong COVID is common. It affects a large proportion of patients and has a wide distribution of symptoms,” he said. “It\u2019s important to make people aware that all these different side effects and symptoms can occur.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study comes a few weeks after Dr. Anthony Fauci announced the U.S. government was launching nationwide initiative<\/a> to study long COVID-19, which he called Post Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A study published in JAMA Network Open on Feb. 19<\/a> found that about 30% of COVID-19 patients reported persistent symptoms as long as nine months after illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(There are) a lot of important questions that are now unanswered that we hope with this series of initiatives we will ultimately answer,\u201d he said during a White House briefing Feb. 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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