UK Study "Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19 Have Higher Risk of Health Issues Even After Discharge"
People with a history of hospitalization due to COVID-19 were found to have a higher risk of readmission and death compared to the general population. / Photo by Yonhap News
[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] A study from the UK found that people who were hospitalized with COVID-19 have twice the likelihood of being re-hospitalized and a five times higher risk of death within 10 months compared to the general population.
On the 25th (local time), Bloomberg News cited research conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in collaboration with the University of Oxford, revealing that COVID-19 patients who survived at least one week after discharge had about a fivefold higher risk of death within the next 10 months compared to the general population.
To analyze long-term health risks, the researchers compared health records of approximately 25,000 COVID-19 hospitalized patients in 2020 with those of about 100,000 general population individuals. To understand risks following hospitalization due to infectious diseases, they also reviewed records of more than 15,000 patients hospitalized with influenza from 2017 to 2019.
The study found that even compared to flu patients, those with a history of COVID-19 infection had higher risks of dementia, re-hospitalization, and death.
The research team stated, "Although concerns about medium- to long-term sequelae of COVID-19 have existed, related research results have been insufficient. Through this study, we discovered that patients discharged after hospitalization for COVID-19 have significantly higher risks of re-hospitalization and death than the general population. This implies additional burdens on healthcare systems."
Krishnan Bhaskaran, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine who led the study, explained, "Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 face a considerably high risk of health problems for several months after discharge. Our findings highlight the importance of vaccination."
Meanwhile, during the first major wave of COVID-19, half of the infected confirmed cases suffered from long-term olfactory sequelae. According to the British daily The Guardian on the 23rd (local time), the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, reported that 18 months after recovering from COVID-19, one-third of patients experienced reduced ability to detect smells, about 50% showed parosmia (distorted smell perception), and 4% completely lost their sense of smell.
Given this situation, some countries including the US and UK have recently opened clinics providing physical therapy and mental health support for COVID-19 sequelae. Although there is no specific treatment for the sequelae, symptoms are managed using existing medications such as antihistamines (for allergy treatment), cytokine (immune substance) blockers, and antacids according to the symptoms.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
