Long COVID: COVD-19 has also taken a toll on our minds in ways we probably don’t fully understand. Even months after COVID, people continue to feel tired, blue, and low on energy all the time.
Long COVID: Fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of smell and taste are signs and symptoms of COVID-19. However, even after dealing with it for months, people continue to reel under its effect. There seems to be a persistent era of these symptoms that affects people’s mental health as well. According to previous research from the University of Waterloo, Canada, prolonged COVID is associated with reduced oxygen levels to the brain, decreased cognition, and elevated levels of depression and anxiety, according to new research studying the impacts of the disease. Patients with prolonged Covid are likely to suffer from persistent psychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, according to another study.
Prolonged symptoms of Covid-19 have been found in many patients, often known as prolonged Covid. Psychiatric symptoms are commonly seen in long-standing Covid patients and can last for weeks, even months, after recovery. However, the symptoms and risk factors associated with it remain unclear.
What is long COVID?
Prolonged COVID refers to a condition in which patients experience persistent symptoms of COVID-19 long after the acute infection has resolved. Some patients may continue to experience symptoms for several weeks, months or even years after the initial infection, said Dr. Gurmeet Singh Chhabra, Director and HOD, Department of Pulmonology, Marengo Asia Hospitals, Faridabad NCR speaking with india.com. In some cases, the symptoms may get better and then come back. Prolonged COVID can occur even in patients who had mild or asymptomatic COVID. While the exact cause of long-term COVID is not yet fully understood, it is believed to be related to the body’s immune response to the virus.
Long COVID: anxiety, depression and other challenges
To understand this, researchers at Padjadjaran University in Indonesia conducted a meta-analysis of 23 studies published between January 2020 and October 2021 in 13 countries in Europe, Asia, and North and South America.
“Mental health problems in long-term COVID patients were known to be associated with persistent physical symptoms, such as myalgia and shortness of breath,” researchers including Shelly Iskandar of the varsity department of psychiatry wrote in the paper.
“This can be two-way. Physical symptoms can result in psychiatric symptoms, and psychiatric symptoms can manifest as physical symptoms.
According to this study, possible symptoms may be:
- Anxiety was the most frequent symptom in participants with prolonged Covid, f
- depression,
- sleeping difficulties
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
On the other hand, cognitive deficits, obsessive-compulsive and somatic symptoms were the least reported. Women and those with a history of psychiatric diagnoses were at higher risk for these symptoms. Sleep difficulties, poor sleep quality and insomnia were also frequently observed. In addition to being female, obesity was also one of the risk factors for sleep difficulties.
The researchers noted that physical and psychiatric symptoms may be interrelated.
These covid-related psychiatric complications could become a long-term public health burden, the authors said. “This condition should be considered as the potential cause of a late pandemic in the medium and long term,” they wrote. “Therefore, it is recommended to closely monitor people experiencing long-term prolonged Covid.”
Most of the studies included in the meta-analysis were based on self-report questionnaires, and the authors noted the heterogeneous nature of the study designs and results, which they said can complicate the interpretation of the results.
(With IANS entries)
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