Covid-19 Virus To Have Prolonged Impact On The Health Of Individuals Long After Recovery From The Infection

The health of people who recovered and were discharged from the hospital was monitored in a recent study.

The study found that more than half of the individuals experienced long-term health complications after the covid-19 infection was cured.

Covid-19 Virus To Have Prolonged Impact On The Health Of Individuals Long After Recovery From The Infection

Moreover, 40% of the individuals who had severe health conditions were not assessed for any medical tests before getting discharged from the hospitals.

Recovery just the beginning of the story.

Recovery from the acuteness of the covid-19 infection is often marked with the beginning of long-term health complications that the majority of the patients experience over a prolonged period of time.

These complications include issues with the heart, kidney, brain, lungs, and skin.

The prolonged medical complications of the other organs are what is collectively known as the long covid.

The study that recorded the observation was led by the author, Dr.Alecia K. Daunter, the clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan.

As stated by Daunter, during the pandemic, emphasis was given to patient welfare while keeping the maximum number of beds available for the huge influx of people. This might have led to the under-assessment of health of the patients before their discharge from the hospitals.

The road ahead of hospital discharge

The study analyzed the medical records of 288 patients that were admitted at the medical facility of the University of Michigan, Michigan Medicine, during the initial surge of the covid-19 cases in March- April of 2020.

Out of the 45% of patients, who were admitted with acute covid-19 symptoms, 40% were not reviewed by any specialists like a physical or occupational therapist, language pathologist, or PM&R physician before their discharge.

As implied by Dr.Dauter this can indicate an underreporting of medical criticalities that can emerge followed by a covid-19 infection and recovery.

However, post-discharge therapy was advised to 80% of these patients, medical supports like a wheelchair was required by 67.6% of patients.

Continual issues like difficulty in swallowing, known as dysphagia were reported in 26.7% of the patients.

For 20% of the patients, the acuteness of these prolonged issues barred them from living an independent life after getting released from the hospitals.

Many of such patients were shifted to subacute facilities or moved with some caregiver and could not go home.

Such incidences had a significant impact on the physical and emotional state of both the patients and their family members.

The way ahead.

As suggested by Dr.Daunter, much of these complications can be avoided in the future by following certain protocols. 

These involve, promoting a strong connection between the rehabilitation and the acute care, medical team that ensures proper screening and referral of the patients during as well as after their hospital stays.

Ensuring that the rehabilitation teas are functioning at their maximum strength in terms of medical staff so that appropriate care and attention is given to everyone during the heavy surge of incoming patients.

Creating a system that can identify the critical patients and make help accessible to them on a priority basis.

Besides the above-mentioned ways, emphasis should remain on devising means to minimize functional deterioration in patients already admitted to the hospitals.

Aftermath of covid-19

As suggested by the findings of the study. While much attention is given to the progression and associated mortality of the virus, the long term after-effects of the infection still remain unexplored

Dr.Edward Claflin, a co-author of the study and a clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan, states that further research and analysis on the matter will reveal the after-effects of the infection.

He is further optimistic that such findings will help in bridging the gap between the treatment route and the follow-up rehabilitation that these patients require.

Agreeing with Dr. Claflin, Dr. Daunter adds that the risks associated with underreporting of the covid-19 impacts are fairly high and should be mitigated to ensure better crisis management in the future.