THE ESSENTIAL
- Among the 70% of patients with sequelae from Covid-19, there were young people as well as the elderly or even very old.
- Currently, there are around 100 critical care admissions per day due to Covid-19 in France.
“We wanted to look at the quality of life of patients in the first and second waves between three and six months after their passage in intensive care. We therefore recontacted 52 patients by telephone, others by teleconsultation. We asked them if they had psychological, muscular, pain, mobility or nutritional problems”, explained to 20 MinutesFanny Bounes, anesthetist-resuscitator at the Rangueil hospital in Toulouse, who supervised Alizée Assad’s thesis which is called “post-resuscitation syndrome (PRS) and post-resuscitation rehabilitation programs”.
The result is worrying: six months later, “more than 70% (of the patients questioned) had a long Covid”. The participants had been admitted to intensive care at Rangueil hospital between March and October 2020, that is to say during the first and second waves. They were between 19 and 80 years old. Scientists have observed physical but also psychological symptoms.
Signs of depression and nightmares
For the first, they noted sleep disturbances, shortness of breath or even difficulty in standing. For the latter, “seven out of ten patients also showed signs of depression. One of the patients who stayed in intensive care for a long time indicated that he had nightmares months after being released. Nearly 40% also have pain that does not “did not exist before, often due to positioning in intensive care”, developed Fanny Bounes. This prone position can indeed cause lesions, in particular of the cornea of the eyes or even joint disorders.
Once discharged from the hospital, the vast majority of patients must therefore live with these side effects of Covid-19, without there being any specific treatment. To improve it but also better detect post-resuscitation syndrome, the Toulouse University Hospital has joined the Algo-Réa study, coordinated by Nantes University Hospital. Thus, they hope to include and analyze all patients released from intensive care in order to better understand their long-term sequelae.
“Wondering about gestures that are sometimes poorly explained”
“Until now, these patients were not particularly monitored. We are now going to set up a multidisciplinary consultation in day hospitalization, to work on the various disorders. This will also allow us to better detect the signs of post-operative syndrome. resuscitation but also to improve our practices, to also question gestures that are sometimes poorly explained. The follow-up of resuscitation patients, Covid or not, makes you humble”, to Fanny Bounes.
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