One in ten infected in Spain suffers from persistent covid

Persistent covid is a serious problem not only for the health system due to the overload it entails and will entail in the future. Especially for those who suffer from it, who see how their lives deteriorate in a clear and inexplicable way.

In Spain it is estimated that, up to now, some 1.2 million people suffer (or have suffered, because for some the symptoms have disappeared over time) persistent covid. Around 10% of those infected, according to a report from the Ministry of Health.

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Common symptoms include, among others, fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive dysfunction. And they generally have an impact on the daily functioning of those who suffer from them. These may be new onset after initial recovery from an acute covid episode or persist from the initial illness. Symptoms can also fluctuate or relapse over time, says Joan Soriano, an epidemiologist at the La Princesa hospital in Madrid and a Ciberes researcher.

This is the case of Maite (she asks that they not identify her with her last name), a nurse who has been sick for almost a year due to the mental "hole" (that's how she defines it) that she suffers from time to time and that causes seizures major anxiety. “The other day I had to make a phone call for them to come pick me up. I was going to do the shopping by car, to a store I always go to, and suddenly I didn't know where I was going or where I was. I parked the car and started crying."

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Or the case of Rubén García, who will turn 21 in March. He was infected in the summer and since then there has been food and odors that he can't bear. "I gag," says this student who passed the infection "without any symptoms." “Since then I hate Coca-Cola, my favorite drink. The tomato, the pasta, the legumes, the milk... Eating has become a problem, which I hope will pass. Although the doctors tell me that they still don't know it," he says.

“The other day I was going to do the shopping by car; I had to stop, I cried, I didn't know where I was going”

Or the case of Juan Antonio, a 65-year-old dentist, who suffered from covid in March 2021. He was hospitalized and required oxygen, although he was not intubated. "There was little left," he points out. “Since then, I have lost memory. I have to write things down, because I forget at the moment what I'm going to do. And no, it's not age, it's something else. It is as if a black cloud was placed in the brain that blocks me ”, he tries to explain. That "black hole" that Maite talks about.

But what is persistent covid (or long covid )? Until recently there was no clear definition of this pathology. It was last December 22 when, in a publication in the Lancet Infectious Disease , coordinated by Dr. Soriano, the first definition agreed upon by a large group of patients, caregivers and international experts of this new disorder was presented: "It is the condition that occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, usually three months after onset, with symptoms that last at least two months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis.”

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The head of the pulmonology service at the Quirón de Córdoba hospital, Luis Manuel Entrenas, clarifies that the persistent covid is not related to the severity of the initial infection, so it can affect both patients who suffered it mildly and severe patients who were hospitalized. In addition, normally, they are not people with a history of previous pathologies.

Persistent covid can affect anyone regardless of age, sex or condition, although 50% of patients are between 36 and 50 years old and the majority are women.

Just yesterday, a study carried out with covid patients admitted to five Spanish public hospitals during the first wave was made public, revealing that, in the long term, women present more post-covid symptoms than men.

“Flavors and smells that I once loved now make me gag; eating is a problem”

The study, led by the Rey Juan Carlos University (URJC) and in which the University of Valencia (UV) participates, shows that, eight months after discharge, the women presented more symptoms of fatigue, dyspnea, pain, hair loss, eye problems, depression, and poorer sleep quality than men.

According to the conclusions of the study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine , the average number of symptoms experienced by women was 2.25 compared to 1.5 in the case of men, even though the symptoms caused by the acute infection were similar at hospital admission.

Cases are also beginning to be described among minors, despite the fact that among this group the severity is usually less. In fact, there are already specific units to treat them, such as the one at Can Ruti in Badalona, ​​which currently treats 130 patients. Although its effects among children need to be investigated further, experts warn, pointing to symptoms of fatigue and memory loss.

Can it be prevented? getting vaccinated An Israeli study not yet peer-reviewed offers positive results regarding the effect of vaccination on the possibility of developing the most common symptoms of persistent covid.

The study, prepared with data from patients from various hospitals in the country, estimated the differences in the risk of developing persistent covid depending on whether or not they had received the vaccine. The data of 951 people who tested positive in the PCR test were analyzed, of which 67% had been vaccinated. Among all of them, 22% reported having fatigue; 20% suffered from headaches; 13%, weakness, and one in 10, muscle pain.

It mainly affects patients between the ages of 36 and 50 and women, although there are also cases in children

When the data of vaccinated and unvaccinated were compared, the risk of fatigue months after infection (and after adjusting the follow-up time) was 64% lower in the former. In the case of headache, the probability was 54% lower; in weakness, the risk was 57% lower, and 68% for muscle pain.

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