Even if immunity is developed after corona recovery, symptoms continue?
It has already been more than three years since the first report of COVID-19 (hereinafter referred to as COVID-19) in December 2019.
Humanity is making vaccines to overcome Corona 19, but coronaviruses are evading vaccines by changing into several mutations such as alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and omicron. Thanks to efforts to create herd immunity from Corona 19 with high vaccination rates in most countries around the world over the past 1-2 years, as of 2023, we expect to be freed from the pandemic.
However, despite being vaccinated, an increasing number of people are re-infected with Corona, or suffer from symptoms caused by Corona 19 for a long time even if they develop immunity after being cured. (Go to related article – “How dangerous is long-term coronavirus infection?”)
What is Long Covid?
According to the WHO, Long-term effects of coronavirus (Long COVID, or Corona infection sequelae) or Post-COVID19 Syndrome are symptoms that persist for a long period of time after the sequelae of Corona 19. Even after recovery from COVID-19, most of the symptoms are overall deterioration of various organs or body systems for more than 4 weeks due to the influence of the virus, mainly accompanied by chronic cough, chronic fatigue, loss of taste, sleep disturbance, and loss of appetite.
It is a symptom that the aftereffects of Corona 19 last for a long time, and it is mainly accompanied by chronic cough, chronic fatigue, loss of taste, sleep disturbance, and loss of appetite. ⓒ alliance-scottland
Long Covid is known to affect between at least 10% and up to 32% (estimated at least 65 million people worldwide) of those infected and recovered from the virus. Biological and medical research on this has made significant progress, and various symptoms have begun to be identified through the results of the study. In total, more than 200 symptoms have been confirmed, and cases are increasing every day. Recently, symptoms such as myalgic encephalomyelitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and orthostatic tachycardia syndrome have also been reported. In addition, long-term sequelae may accompany other respiratory diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis and asthma. Therefore, it is desirable to proceed with selective customized treatment according to the cause through accurate diagnosis.
The most commonly reported symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, cognitive impairment, insomnia and mental disturbances. In particular, a large number of patients complain of sleep disorder symptoms.
Will COVID-19 Infection Affect Sleep?
Therefore, recently, Dr. Formiga Moura of the Department of Neuropsychiatry at Walter Cantídio University Hospital in Brazil began researching sleep-related symptoms during long-term corona infection sequelae through neuropsychiatric clinical trials. The researchers selected a cohort of 207 patients who had recovered from COVID-19 but had sequelae at the Walter Cantídio Hospital – Universidade Federal do Cear Neurology Outpatient Clinic in the state of Ceará, northeastern Brazil between August 2020 and September 2021. A study (an epidemiologic study in which a population with a specific risk factor was continuously followed and monitored) was conducted. In particular, they began to detail the symptoms related to them along with the presence or absence of sleep-related symptoms.
The researchers first focused on 189 subgroups of 207 patients with sequelae who complained of excessive sleepiness. Among them, 48 patients (25.3%) showed sleep-related symptoms and 42 patients (22.2%) complained of insomnia. On the other hand, excessive sleepiness was reported in 6 patients (3.17%). In addition, polysomnography, examination, and multiple sleep latency tests were performed on 4 patients with excessive drowsiness symptoms, and as a result of obtaining active graphic data results, 2 of these patients were diagnosed with central hypersomnia. , one was found to be suffering from narcolepsy.
On the other hand, a history of steroid use was associated with sleep disorders such as insomnia and excessive sleepiness, and depression was found to be associated with excessive sleepiness. In addition, it was observed that cognitive complaints appeared in most of the patients complaining of excessive sleepiness.
Sleep-related symptoms of discomfort, such as insomnia and excessive drowsiness, have been found to be part of clinical long-term COVID syndrome with some clinical data. ⓒ e-lfh
From this, the researchers concluded that, with some clinical data, sleep-related discomfort symptoms such as insomnia and excessive sleepiness appear to be part of the clinical long-term COVID syndrome.
Another Study – Stress and Long Covid Possibility
Recently in the United States, studies have been published that show that stress and the possibility of long Covid occurrence can show a correlation. The above study was conducted on 790 patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized at the New York University Medical Center in the United States between March and May 2020, and the factors influencing long Covid were age, disability, and severity of COVID-19. appeared to be More specifically, it has been reported that physical stress due to various symptoms such as smell disorder, taste disorder, depression, and dizziness, and mental stress due to job loss, etc. can increase the possibility of long Covid.
In particular, extreme stress events such as economic anxiety or the death of an acquaintance cause depression, brain fog, and sleep disorders, which more than double the likelihood of experiencing long Covid symptoms.
* Shortcut to related papers – “Central hypersomnia and chronic insomnia: expanding the spectrum of sleep disorders in long COVID syndrome – a prospective cohort study”
* Shortcut to related papers – “Life stressors significantly impact long-term outcomes and post-acute symptoms 12-months after COVID-19 hospitalization)”
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