How does the long Covid impact the health of patients? To answer, scientists analyzed the medical data of 25,910 volunteers from the Constances cohort. The scientists “compared the persistence of symptoms seven to eight months after the first wave of the pandemic in four groups of participants divided according to symptoms”.
Overexposed symptomatic patients
The 25,910 participants answered two questionnaires during the first epidemic wave. Carried out between May and November 2020, serological tests then made it possible to distinguish – by the presence or absence of antibodies – people who had been exposed to Covid-19 and those who had not.
Then a third questionnaire was proposed between December 2020 and February 2021. The latter focused in particular on the persistence of symptoms such as “dyspnea (difficulty breathing), asthenia (fatigue), joint and muscle pain, cognitive problems, digestive disorders, anosmia/dysgeusia (loss of smell and taste)”. But also “disorders of concentration and attention, and chest pain”.
Loss of taste or smell, difficulty breathing and fatigue are the most stubborn. “These symptoms are particularly observed in patients who had typical symptoms of Covid at the time of infection”, underline the researchers.
Towards better prevention of acute phases
These results are valuable for prevention. They provide material “for the development of more effective management strategies. Promoting preventive therapies and approaches, such as vaccination, that reduce symptoms during the acute phase of the disease could also have a beneficial effect on post-Covid states,” say the scientists.
*Inserm, from Paris-Saclay University and Sorbonne University to the Pierre-Louis Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health, in collaboration with ANRS | Emerging infectious diseases