Not all people infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop severe symptoms of Covid-19. Does this mean that the disease is mild? German researchers show that even with mild or moderate Covid-19, the functions of the heart, kidneys, lungs and blood vessels are affected in a minor but not negligible way in people over 45 years old. Follow-up is therefore recommended after infection.
As the Omicron variant currently shows, most people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus have mild symptoms that do not require hospitalization. However, we know that the virus is capable of affecting, in the most severe cases, a number of internal organs: the lungs, heart, kidneys, brain, blood vessels. This is why a team of researchers from the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Germany, investigated whether a mild to moderate course of the infection also had an effect on the functions of these same organs and on the quality of life of patients. Just published in the journal, the results of their study provide an important answer to this still unknown aspect of the pandemic.
443 participants aged 45 to 74
This cross-sectional study on possible internal sequelae of Covid-19 when it only gives rise to mild or moderate symptoms was part of the much larger framework of the Hamburg City Health Study (HCHS), the largest local health study worldwide, which plans to examine over the long term 45,000 Hamburgers aged 45 to 74 with the aim of identifying the risk factors for the most common chronic diseases (myocardial infarction, stroke, dementia, cardiac, etc.). Initiated in 2016, it already holds the data of 15,000 participants, among which were selected 443 people who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 without serious evolution, as well as a control cohort made up of 1,328 people of age, sex. and of a similar level of education, the examinations of which had been carried out before the coronavirus pandemic. The participants tested positive for the coronavirus between March and the end of December 2020 and respected a minimum period of 4 months before being able to register for the study organized by the Center for Epidemiological Studies of the UKE. The vast majority of them (93%) were treated in a[…]
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