一項具有里程碑意義的新研究顯示,全球近半數新冠幸存者在四個月后存在長期癥狀,包括兒童和成年人患者。
英格蘭萊斯特大學(University of Leicester)的研究人員分析了近200項之前的新冠患者研究,共涉及近75萬名患者。這些患者分布在世界各地,包括住院患者和未住院患者。
超過45%的研究參與者在初次感染四個月后至少仍有一種長期癥狀。四分之一患者有疲勞癥狀,有類似比例的患者表示感覺疼痛或不適。此外,研究顯示,有不到四分之一患者表示存在睡眠障礙、氣喘和無法正常開展日常活動等問題。
通常無法找到臨床異常能夠解釋這些癥狀。但許多曾因新冠住院的患者報告了某些跡象,包括肺部結構和肺功能發生變化等。接近一半住院患者出現了CT掃描和/或X光掃描異常,另有近三分之一患者肺部對一氧化碳的擴散能力下降。
報告的作者寫道:“肺功能變化與SARS和MERS等其他病毒感染者經歷的變化類似。”
研究發現,在未住院治療的新冠幸存者中,超過三分之一在四個月后有長期癥狀。
作者寫道:“這么多患者存在長期新冠癥狀的原因依舊不明。”他們表示可能的原因包括器官損傷、炎癥、免疫系統變化和心理作用等。
有研究發現女性出長期新冠的比例更高,但萊斯特大學的研究并未發現任何特定年齡群體或性別經歷令人虛弱的癥狀比例更高。研究人員無法可靠地評估長期新冠與種族的關系,因為只有四分之一研究提供了參與者的種族或民族。
據美國人口普查局(U.S. Census Bureau)今年夏天收集的數據顯示,美國約5,000萬成年新冠患者中,近20%表示存在長期新冠癥狀。
長期新冠被粗略定義為持續存在或在初次感染新冠康復很久以后出現的癥狀,但目前沒有一種被廣泛接受的統一定義。許多專家主張,最合理的定義是感染新冠之后出現的一種與慢性疲勞綜合征類似的狀況,類似于感染皰疹、萊姆關節炎疾病甚至埃博拉病毒之后出現的其他病毒后綜合征。專家們認為,器官損傷和重癥治療后綜合征等感染新冠之后的其他并發癥,不應被定義為長期新冠。(財富中文網)
翻譯:劉進龍
審校:汪皓
一項具有里程碑意義的新研究顯示,全球近半數新冠幸存者在四個月后存在長期癥狀,包括兒童和成年人患者。
英格蘭萊斯特大學(University of Leicester)的研究人員分析了近200項之前的新冠患者研究,共涉及近75萬名患者。這些患者分布在世界各地,包括住院患者和未住院患者。
超過45%的研究參與者在初次感染四個月后至少仍有一種長期癥狀。四分之一患者有疲勞癥狀,有類似比例的患者表示感覺疼痛或不適。此外,研究顯示,有不到四分之一患者表示存在睡眠障礙、氣喘和無法正常開展日常活動等問題。
通常無法找到臨床異常能夠解釋這些癥狀。但許多曾因新冠住院的患者報告了某些跡象,包括肺部結構和肺功能發生變化等。接近一半住院患者出現了CT掃描和/或X光掃描異常,另有近三分之一患者肺部對一氧化碳的擴散能力下降。
報告的作者寫道:“肺功能變化與SARS和MERS等其他病毒感染者經歷的變化類似。”
研究發現,在未住院治療的新冠幸存者中,超過三分之一在四個月后有長期癥狀。
作者寫道:“這么多患者存在長期新冠癥狀的原因依舊不明。”他們表示可能的原因包括器官損傷、炎癥、免疫系統變化和心理作用等。
有研究發現女性出長期新冠的比例更高,但萊斯特大學的研究并未發現任何特定年齡群體或性別經歷令人虛弱的癥狀比例更高。研究人員無法可靠地評估長期新冠與種族的關系,因為只有四分之一研究提供了參與者的種族或民族。
據美國人口普查局(U.S. Census Bureau)今年夏天收集的數據顯示,美國約5,000萬成年新冠患者中,近20%表示存在長期新冠癥狀。
長期新冠被粗略定義為持續存在或在初次感染新冠康復很久以后出現的癥狀,但目前沒有一種被廣泛接受的統一定義。許多專家主張,最合理的定義是感染新冠之后出現的一種與慢性疲勞綜合征類似的狀況,類似于感染皰疹、萊姆關節炎疾病甚至埃博拉病毒之后出現的其他病毒后綜合征。專家們認為,器官損傷和重癥治療后綜合征等感染新冠之后的其他并發癥,不應被定義為長期新冠。(財富中文網)
翻譯:劉進龍
審校:汪皓
Almost half of COVID survivors globally—both children and adults—have lingering symptoms four months later, according to a landmark new study.
Researchers at the University of Leicester in England performed an analysis of nearly 200 studies of prior COVID patients, involving nearly 750,000 people in all. The patients—some of whom were hospitalized and some of whom weren’t—lived across the globe.
More than 45% of study participants had at least one lingering symptom four months out from their initial infection. A quarter of the patients reported fatigue, and a similar number said they felt pain or discomfort. Meanwhile, sleep issues, breathlessness, and problems participating in normal daily activities were reported in just under a quarter of patients, according to the study.
Often, no clinical abnormalities could be found to explain such symptoms. But some signs were reported in many patients who had been hospitalized with COVID, including changes in lung structure and function. An abnormal CT scan and/or X-rays were found in nearly half of previously hospitalized patients, in addition to a decreased capacity to diffuse carbon monoxide in nearly a third of patients.
“Changes in pulmonary function are similar to those observed following other viral infections including SARS and MERS,” the authors wrote.
When non-hospitalized COVID survivors were singled out, more than a third of them had lingering symptoms at four months, the study found.
“The reasons as to why so many patients are experiencing Long Covid remains unknown,” the authors wrote, adding that possible causes include organ damage, inflammation, altered immune systems, and psychological effects.
While some studies have found a higher rate of long COVID in females, the study out of Leicester didn’t find that any particular age group or gender experienced s of the disabling condition. Researchers weren’t able to reliably assess any potential association with race, as only a quarter of studies examined provided participants race or ethnicity.
Nearly 20% of American adults who’ve had COVID—an estimated 50 million—report having long COVID symptoms, according to data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau this summer.
Long COVID is roughly defined as symptoms that persist or appear long after the initial COVID infection is gone, but a consensus definition has not yet been broadly accepted. Many experts contend that the condition is best defined as a chronic fatigue syndrome-like condition that develops after COVID illness, similar to other post-viral syndromes that can occur after infection with herpes, Lyme disease, and even Ebola. Other post-COVID complications, like organ damage and post-intensive-care syndrome, should not be defined as long COVID, they say.