Studies find long COVID symptoms, including joint pain, at 1 yearTwo new studies detail long COVID symptoms, with one from France showing that 85% of patients who had symptoms 2 months after illness onset still had them at 1 year and some symptoms worsened, and one from China revealing that 12% of patients reported rheumatic symptoms at 1-year follow-up.In the first study, researchers in Paris analyzed data from 968 adult COVID-19 participants in an ongoing prospective cohort study in France, including their responses to the online Long COVID Symptom Tool questionnaire about daily occurrence of 53 symptoms from December 2020 to October 2021.
The data were published today in Nature Communications.Of patients with symptoms 2 months after symptom onset, 85% still had them at 1 year.
The prevalence of 27 symptoms such as a loss of taste or smell declined over time, while 18 symptoms (eg, shortness of breath) remained stable, and 8 (eg, abnormal sensations due to nerve damage) increased.Symptoms had a greater effect on patients' lives starting at 6 months. "Our results are of importance to understand the natural history of post COVID-19 disease," the researchers concluded. Apr 5 Nat Commun studyThe second study, conducted by researchers in Harbin and Beijing, involved face-to-face interviews of 1,296 COVID-19 survivors 1 year after they were released from the hospital from Jan 7 to May 29, 2020.
The findings were published yesterday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.Of the 1,296 patients, 12.3% still reported rheumatic symptoms at 1 year.