PremiumLong Covid subtype impacting cardiac and renal systems was the most common—34% of patients fell into this category
Even though infections related to COVID are significantly mild now, what it still worrying is the long-term effects of the disease, i.e long COVID. Till now, much about the condition has remained unclear, including how long it lasts and researchers have been studying the symptoms to understand more about the disease. Now, a new study has revealed that there are as many as 4 subtypes of long COVID, and many of the symptoms are serious. Here is all you need to know.
Long covid is defined as symptoms persisting or new symptoms appearing more than four weeks after initial infection. An estimated 1.5 million people in the UK, or 2.4% of the population, were suffering from long Covid symptoms in March. These include fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of smell, loss of taste and difficulty concentrating.
As per World Health Organization, at least 17 million people in Europe suffered from long Covid symptoms months after recovering from their initial infection during 2020 and 2021.
A recent study published in Nature Medicine found that long COVID sufferers generally fell into one of the following categories:
According to the findings, the subtype impacting cardiac and renal systems was the most common—34% of patients fell into this category. However, 33% of patients fell into the second category, with respiratory symptoms, anxiety, lingering headaches, and insomnia.
After that, 23% of patients fell into the musculoskeletal and nervous systems group, while just 10% of patients had conditions that impacted the gut.
Meanwhile, another study has revealed most symptoms from long Covid clear up within a year for people who had mild initial infections.
For the study, a group of Israeli researchers combed through 70 different symptoms that have been linked to long Covid. They excluded patients who had more serious illnesses, including those who were hospitalised, which previous research has suggested having a higher risk of long Covid.
And the result showed that most symptoms cleared up within 12 months. "There is a small number of people still suffering from shortness of breath or weakness for a year after Covid," said Maytal Bivas-Benita, a researcher at Israel's KI Research Institute and study co-author. The study was published in BMJ.