According to a sizable Israel study released on Thursday, most long-term Covid symptoms in patients with mild initial infections go away after a year. The results were hailed as “reassuring.”
According to World Health Organization modelling, at least 17 million people in Europe experienced long-lasting COVID symptoms in the months after their initial infection in 2020 and 2021.
However, many details concerning the illness are still unknown, including how long it lasts.
Nearly two million individuals of all ages who underwent Covid testing in Israel between March 2020 and October 2021 had their medical information examined by Israeli researchers.
Therefore, the findings only applied to the earlier Covid versions, such as Delta, and not to the more modern Omicron forms.
The records were provided by Maccabi Healthcare Services, and the researchers searched them for more than 70 different symptoms that have been connected to lengthy Covid.
They didn’t include individuals with more severe illnesses or those who were in the hospital, which is thought to increase the risk of extended Covid according to earlier studies.
The study discovered a markedly elevated risk of various illnesses, including loss of taste and smell, breathing issues, weakness, palpitations, strep throat, dizziness, and attention and memory impairment, sometimes known as “brain fog,” for the mild instances.
However, the majority of symptoms disappeared within a year.
According to Maytal Bivas-Benita, a researcher at Israel’s KI Research Institute and co-author of the study, a tiny proportion of people are still experiencing weakness or shortness of breath a year after using Covid.
The study, which was written up in the journal BMJ, also discovered that individuals who had had vaccinations had a lower probability of developing respiratory issues, which are the most typical symptom.
Children, on the other hand, experienced fewer health issues than adults and generally made a full recovery from them within a year.
The results, according to Bivas-Benita, who spoke to AFP, “encouraged” her, especially after having concerns about how long the symptoms would last.
After a year, “the vast majority of people will be fine,” she said.
For doctors attempting to determine whether the symptoms of their patients are due to Covid, lead study author Barak Mizrahi expressed the hope that the results will reduce uncertainty.
Michael Absoud, a paediatrician and clinical academic at King’s College London not involved in the study, called the findings “reassuring”.
It confirms that the vast majority of children with long Covid symptoms have “a very good recovery,” he said.
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