The global number of new crown sequelae is estimated to be nearly 145 million, and we must be vigilant against these 'new crown sequelae' after 'Yangkang'!

The term Long Covid has gained international recognition in the literature, and as with the condition itself, the existing definition of Long Covid is diverse, but so far there is no unified definition of Long Covid. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC and other departments jointly developed Long Covid is defined as "Long Covid is broadly defined as the persistent signs, symptoms, and condition after initial infection with the new crown." These signs, symptoms, and conditions persist for more than 4 weeks after the initial stage of infection, may be multisystematic, and may present in a relapse-remitting pattern and progress or worsen over time, with serious and life-threatening events occurring even months or years after infection. ”

According to the CDC Long COVID topic, the most common long-term COVID symptoms reported by people who have recovered from new coronavirus infection include the following:

■ General symptoms: fatigue or fatigue, discomfort after exertion, fever;

■ Respiratory and cardiac symptoms: difficulty or shortness of breath, cough, chest pain, palpitations;

■ Neurological symptoms: brain fog, headache, sleep problems, dizziness, pinprick-like sensation, smell and taste changes, depression or anxiety;

■ Digestive symptoms: diarrhea, stomach pain;

■ Other symptoms: joint or muscle pain, rash, menstrual cycle changes.

On 13 September 2022, WHO said that modelling data from the Institute for Health Indicators and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine in the United States showed that in 2020 and 2021, nearly 145 million people worldwide had at least one long-term new crown symptom. With the relaxation of China's control of the new crown epidemic, the number of patients infected with the new crown virus is increasing exponentially, and due to the large population base, it is believed that the number of patients suffering from long-term new crown symptoms will also increase. What are the specific symptoms of long-term new crown, we walked into authoritative research together.

With an average follow-up of 4 months, 45% of those who recovered from the new crown

There are still symptoms such as fatigue and pain

Previous studies have shown that people living with COVID around the world suffer from a variety of persistent symptoms, including fatigue, malaise, altered sense of smell and taste, difficulty breathing, and cognitive impairment. On December 1, 2022, eClinical Medicine, a subsidiary of The Lancet, published a systematic review and meta-analysis online exploring the long-term legacy symptoms of COVID infection. The results of the study showed that regardless of whether they were hospitalized or not, 45% of people who recovered from the new crown infection still had at least one persistent symptom during an average follow-up of 4 months, the most common symptoms being fatigue, sleep disturbance, pain/discomfort, and difficulty breathing.

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, the researchers searched for eligible studies from MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, Scopus, CINAHL and medRxiv from 31 December 2019 to 21 January 2022, arguably the most comprehensive analysis of long-term symptoms of COVID to date, titled "The prevalence and long-term health effects of." Long Covid among hospitalised and non-hospitalised populations: A systematic review and meta-analysis”。

The study included a total of 194 studies, including 735006 participants, and with an average follow-up of 126 days, 45% of those who recovered from COVID infection developed at least one long-term COVID symptom, regardless of hospitalization.

In terms of those who have been hospitalized, 52.6% have at least one symptom, with the most common symptoms being fatigue, pain/discomfort, sleep disturbance, difficulty breathing, impaired daily activities; During follow-up, persistent changes in lung function were observed in some patients, commonly abnormal CT/X-ray (45.3%), ground-glass opacities (41.1%), and impaired carbon monoxide diffusion ability (31.7%).

Among non-hospitalized COVID survivors, 34.5% had at least one persistent symptom at follow-up, with the most common symptoms being fatigue, difficulty breathing, muscle pain, sleep disturbance, and loss of smell.

A paper titled "Estimated Global Proportions of Individuals With Persistent Fatigue, Cognitive, and Respiratory Symptom Clusters Following Symptomatic COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021" was published in JAMA in October of the same year. The study assessed the duration of COVID symptoms in people who recovered from COVID infection.

The observational analysis involved 54 studies and two medical record databases that included data from 1.2 million people who recovered from COVID in 22 countries. Researchers categorize the common symptoms of a long new crown into three categories: persistent physical fatigue, muscle aches, or mood swings; cognitive problems; Respiratory problems.

After data analysis, about 6.2% of the new crown infected people developed one of the above symptoms three months after infection; In non-hospitalized individuals, the average duration of long COVID was 4 months; Among those with symptomatic COVID-19, about 3.2% had persistent fatigue accompanied by physical pain or mood swings, 3.7% had persistent respiratory problems, and 2.2% had cognitive problems. And globally, 63.2% of patients with new crown are women.

It is worth noting that long new crown is related to the severity of new crown infection, the proportion of ICU patients with long new crown is as high as 43.1%, the proportion of ordinary hospitalized patients with long new crown is 27.5%, and only 5.7% of non-hospitalized patients; The average duration of the long Covid was 9 months, compared to 4 months for individuals who were not hospitalized.

In addition, the data in this study comes from before the Omicron epidemic, and the study concluded that the incidence of long-term coronavirus infection with Omicron was reduced by 24% to 50% compared to Delta, depending on the time since the last vaccination.

The risk of sequelae of Omicron infection is reduced, but it is still not to be taken lightly

Compared with Delta, Omicron's pathogenicity is much weaker, and infected people have milder symptoms, so the risk of developing a new crown after infection has also decreased, but it still cannot be ignored. In June 2022, The Lancet published a study titled "Risk of long COVID associated with delta versus omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2," the first peer-reviewed study on Omicron sequelae. The results of the study showed that the chance of developing a new crown after infection with Omicron was 20% to 50% lower than that of Delta.

The study included a total of 56,003 adults infected with the novel coronavirus during the peak of Omicron transmission between December 2021 and March 2022, and included patients infected with Delta between June 1, 2021 and November 27, 2021 as the control group. The study found that 2,501 out of 56,003 people (4.5%) experienced long COVID symptoms in Omicron cases and 4469 out of 41,361 people (10.8%) in Delta cases.

Overall, compared with Delta, Omicron has a lower chance of patients experiencing symptoms of the new crown, and it has a lot to do with vaccination. Nevertheless, according to the ZOE application model, the number of long crowns will inevitably increase in the future.

In addition to the more common long-term new crown symptoms mentioned in the above research, there are also studies that show that infection with the new crown virus can lead to a significant increase in the risk of Alzheimer's disease, ischemic stroke, diabetes, various mental diseases and other diseases.

There are also many people who are concerned about the function of the reproductive system, and the studies we have previously analyzed mentioned that the new coronavirus may cause acute testicular injury, chronic asymmetric testicular atrophy. Zhang Hanwang, an authoritative expert in domestic reproductive medicine and professor of the Reproductive Medicine Center of Wuhan Tongji Hospital, said that infection with the new crown virus will lead to a short-term decline in sperm quality, and it will return to normal in three to six months.

As far as women are concerned, many women have had menstrual cycle disorders and abnormal uterine bleeding after the new crown virus infection, and Yang Xin, chief physician of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Peking University People's Hospital, said that there is no evidence that the new crown virus infection will affect the reproductive system.

Up to now, many people have been infected with the new crown virus, and with the blessing of vaccination and herd immunity, Omicron's pathogenicity has decreased, but its harm to the human body cannot be ignored. Repeated high fever, cough, headache, muscle pain all over the body, blade throat, after experiencing this infection, everyone still has palpitations. Most people have been infected with fatigue, poor breathing, coughing and even experiencing symptoms such as pneumonia and myocarditis for a period of time after infection with the new crown virus, which indicates that the new crown virus cannot be equated with a cold at all. Some people will recover slowly with these symptoms, but some people may fall to the root of the disease and cannot be eradicated.

The main cause of the sequelae of the new crown is that the virus in the human body has not been completely cleared or new pathological products have formed, based on this, on the one hand, symptomatic treatment of clinical symptoms should be carried out, on the other hand, it is necessary to improve the body's immunity and remove the virus and corresponding pathological products.

The above study analyzes the long-term new crown symptoms that may occur in infected people after infection with the new crown virus, in order to warn infected people to pay attention to rest even if their bodies recover, observe the changes in their bodies, be alert to the appearance of sequelae after "yangkang", and seek medical attention as soon as possible if there is an uncomfortable situation.