Illustrative stock photo (source: Unsplash)
Thousands of people around Slovakia, mainly young and middle-aged people who are healthy, have serious problems connected with "long Covid". This term is used to describe the effects of Covid-19 that continue for weeks or months beyond the patient's initial illness.
The app CovidHelper was launched on February 22 to collect this data about the state and treatment of patients with acute and long Covid. Currently, long Covid is not a very-well researched diagnosis in Slovakia, the authors of the project said.
They studied 3,035 questionnaires filled out by patients who have overcome Covid. They offered information about their healthcare via the CovidHelper.sk app between February 22 and March 22 of this year.They studied 3,035 questionnaires filled out by patients who have overcome Covid. They offered information about their healthcare via the CovidHelper.sk app between February 22 and March 22 of this year.
Women and younger people
“Our findings showed that the long-term consequences trouble more women than men,” the press release reads, adding that this was the case for 60 percent of women.
Long Covid often applies to young people (median age of patients was 43 years). They have not noticed any relation between the seriousness of long Covid and age or obesity. Almost 90 percent of samples were individuals who had symptoms of acute Covid, but they managed them at home without hospitalisation.
Almost two-thirds of respondents (65 percent) feel a significant limitation in everyday life. They are able to conduct ordinary activities like getting dressed and going to the toilet, but they are limited mainly in sports and when walking up stairs or focusing on work.
Combination of problems
The most common symptoms are tiredness, a cough, headaches, and body aches. Long Covid could have various symptoms – extreme tiredness, inability to breathe in, forgetfulness, and painful menstruation.
More than 40 percent of patients have problems from four of five various fields (cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, and the locomotor and digestive systems).
“These patients need treatment from a group of experts from various fields, as is the case in post-covid centres in Great Britain, for example,” the authors of the study claimed.
