We are in denial about the huge consequences of long COVID on Canadians’ health
We Are Not Okay: The Pandemic and its ConsequencesSomewhere around the three-year mark of the pandemic, I began to hear a lot of people say they were done with COVID – meaning they were tired of the lockdowns, tired of the precautions, tired of living in fear and eager to resume their prepandemic lives. Unfortunately, COVID-19 is not done with us.
The incidence of long COVID is higher than you might think. Global data from the end of 2022 suggest almost half of COVID-19 survivors report persistent symptoms four months after their diagnosis. The prevalence of long COVID is around 43 per cent and the range can vary from 9 per cent to 81 per cent due to differences in sex, region and study population. As one would expect, those who were hospitalized with the virus were far more likely to experience long COVID .
Unfortunately, sometimes the body can mount an overactive response that causes inflammation throughout the body, leading to aches and pains. Sometimes, in more serious cases, other organs are involved. All of this happens while the body begins to manufacture antibodies over several days to lock down and remove the virus.
It should be obvious, given that COVID-19 is a respiratory infection, that some amount of lung damage would be evident in patients postinfection. A United Kingdom study from October, 2022, concluded that approximately 11 per cent of COVID-19 patients develop interstitial lung disease after hospitalization. For some, this lung damage resolves, but for others, it appears to lead to a progression of lung fibrosis.
The kidneys are not spared in the acute and postacute phases of COVID-19 infection. Patients displayed a lower glomerular filtration rate, meaning kidney function had become suboptimal. Technically, how sick you were with COVID-19 determined the severity of acute kidney injury. Unfortunately, the kidney does not regenerate its tissues, unlike the liver and some other organs. It houses many delicate filters that act as a recycling system.
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