RI COVID Cases Continue to Climb, New Research Points to Devastating Long-Term Impacts to Infected

Wednesday, April 07, 2021

 

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A new study published Tuesday finds that people who had COVID-19 may be more likely to be diagnosed with a mental health or neurological condition later on.

Another key finding of the study was that the coronavirus may slightly increase the risk of a brain hemorrhage or stroke, especially for those who had severe COVID-19, i.e., they were hospitalized or put in intensive care.

The study by the University of Oxford looked at 236 ,379 patients and found that one in three developed some kind of neurological health condition within six months. Most of the patients reviewed were in the United States.

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The impacts are serious and are now being deemed “long COVID” and the sufferers — "long haulers."

Rhode Island in Focus

The results of the study come as Rhode Island reported another 357 cases on minimal testing. Now, 139,549 Rhode Islanders have tested positive. 

The study was published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

The implications for the U.S. and Rhode Island healthcare system in the long term could be devastating.

In a MINDSETTER™ published in GoLocal earlier this week, Nick Landekic wrote:

COVID was initially thought to be another respiratory infection like influenza. Many people believed it was all over after getting through the acute phase. We know much better now.

Long COVID is a major problem, such as chronic fatigue even months after the original infection. 76% of people can still have health problems six months after their infection.

There are many kinds of potential lingering health problems, including heart damage, found in 60%-78% of COVID survivors, brain damage and cognitive impairment, with 85% of survivors having long-term neurological problems.

Another study published in Lancet finds physical impacts of COVID in the long term, "At 6 months after acute infection, COVID-19 survivors were mainly troubled with fatigue or muscle weakness, sleep difficulties, and anxiety or depression. Patients who were more severely ill during their hospital stay had more severe impaired pulmonary diffusion capacities and abnormal chest imaging manifestations, and are the main target population for intervention of long-term recovery."

Oxford Study

The Oxford researchers found that approximately 33% of COVID-19 survivors were diagnosed with a mental health or neurological condition within six months of their initial infection, most commonly anxiety and depression. For 13% of those people, it was their first diagnosis of this type. 

Limitations of the study include the fact that because the patients had COVID-19, they may have been more likely to get medical attention and therefore were more likely to receive a mental health diagnosis due to the extra attention. 

 

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