Just like with Corona, a flu infection can also have serious long-term health consequences. American researchers point this out. They observed and compared the health development of patients who had been admitted to hospital due to corona or flu for 18 months.
The group led by scientist Al-Aly from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, published the results of their research in the journal ‘The Lancet Infectious Diseases’. The researchers wanted to know whether and to what extent people with flu also maintain or develop health problems in the long term. “An important lesson we learned from Sars-CoV-2 is that an infection initially thought to cause only a short-term illness can also lead to a chronic disease,” says Al-Aly.
Patients of Covid-19 and flu compared
Initially, the cases of 81,280 patients hospitalized for Covid-19 between March 1, 2020 and June 30, 2022 were examined. The researchers then compared their health development with the cases of 10,985 patients who were treated in hospital for flu between October 1, 2015 and February 28, 2019.
In the 18 months studied, Covid-19 patients had a 51 percent higher risk of death compared to flu patients (28.46 cases versus 19.84 cases per 100 people).
The health risk for corona patients was higher in nine of the ten organ systems examined than for flu patients. Only with regard to the lungs did flu patients have a higher risk of negative health consequences. The number of healthy life years lost (DALY – disability-adjusted life years) was 242.66 years per 100 people in the flu group and 287.43 years in the Covid-19 group.
Researchers: Viral infections are a major cause of chronic diseases
“The idea that Covid-19 or influenza are merely acute diseases ignores their larger long-term impacts on human health,” Al-Aly emphasized. Doctors need to be more aware that viral infections are a major cause of chronic diseases.
For both Covid-19 and seasonal flu, vaccinations can help prevent serious illness and reduce the risk of hospitalizations and deaths, Al-Aly said. “Optimizing vaccination coverage must remain a priority for governments and healthcare systems around the world.” This is especially true for vulnerable population groups, such as the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.
Scientists call the long-term effects of the flu ‘Long Flu’, where ‘Flu’ is an abbreviation of the English term for flu. The term ‘Long Covid’ is used in several countries for the long-term consequences of Covid-19.
The research did not focus on how often Long Covid or Long Flu occurs in hospital patients.
2023-12-17 06:07:00
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