PremiumA study on 54,960 participants revealed what is more dangerous than comorbidities like cancer when it comes to ‘Long COVID’.
There are severe COVID signs and symptoms that can last for months or even years, and it’s called ‘Long COVID’. Researchers have investigated a connection between stress and ‘Long COVID’ in an effort to shed more light on this excruciatingly-persistent illness. The research was published in JAMA Psychiatry.
Depressive disorders, anxiety, and other forms of suffering that are frequently ignored, such as loneliness, stress perception, and particular worries about COVID, are some of these stressors. Surprisingly, these stressors affected ‘Long COVID’ more than physical comorbidities like a history of high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, asthma and cancer.
Ironically, hearing of these connections can add to anxiety. Still, they are an essential and timely reminder that we must prioritise our mental health even amid an ongoing global pandemic. And while the reasons behind these stressors are very different, they can all challenge our bodies in similar ways.
‘Long COVID’ raises the issue of the significance of recognising and treating mental health problems, making it crucial to consider psychological health. The research team cites a number of reasons why the chronic disease is not psychosomatic and is adamant that this in no way implies that lengthy COVID symptoms are all in the brain.
Physical health disorders, which may be easier to measure or see, have a long history of receiving more severe treatment than mental health difficulties, according to Harvard University neuroepidemiology Andrea Roberts. In patients who showed indications of any stress, the researchers found that ‘Long COVID’ was 30-50% more common.
Siwen Wang, a medical doctor at Harvard, and her associates, including Roberts, based their study on 54,960 participants in significant ongoing studies of nurses' health. Data from 3,193 of those nurses who ultimately developed COVID was gathered by the researchers. Over a 19-month period starting in April 2020, the volunteers completed baseline and follow-up questionnaires.
In comparison to participants who did not experience a high level of distress, those who reported high levels of two or more forms of distress had a roughly 50% higher probability of developing post-COVID-19 problems, Wang and team found.