Patients May Still Be Presenting with Effects of COVID-19 Six Months After Infection

There seems to be confusion among the public as to how COVID-19 affects infected individuals. While headlines noting that the U.S. recently passed the half-million mark in related deaths are hard to ignore, too many people are under the impression that the virus leads to one of two wildly diverse outcomes: it’s either deadly or “no big deal.” That couldn’t be further from the truth, however, as new data published in JAMA Network Open indicate that many patients with COVID-19 continue to experience lower health-related quality of life for as long as 6 months after infection. While earlier research tended to focus on hospitalized patients for up to 90 days after onset, this study looked at 234 patients who had COVID-19 between 3 and 9 months after diagnosis. Of the 177 who completed the end survey, 11 (6%) had been asymptomatic with the illness, while 150 (85%) had mild symptoms and 16 (9%) were hospitalized. A median of 169 days later, over a quarter continued to have symptoms—most commonly, fatigue or loss of smell/taste (14% each). Likelihood that an individual would have persistent symptoms for those longer periods of time increased with each age group and with how severe active illness had been. Patients who also had hypertension or diabetes were found to be more likely to have symptoms for longer periods of time, as well. Bear this in mind when assessing patients who present with such symptoms unattributable to other causes.