The impact of the coronavirus does not end with testing negative as around 45% of the patients have experienced post covid conditions after almost 12 months since the onset of the infection, says a study.
The research, conducted by Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, revealed the information in a Covid-19 situation report on Wednesday.
However, the research also found that non-communicable disease (NDC) patients who are under medication are less likely to have post covid conditions.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) said that post Covid conditions are a wide range of new, returning, or ongoing health problems people can experience four or more weeks after first being infected with the virus.
Even people who did not have Covid-19 symptoms in the days or weeks after they were infected can have post Covid conditions.
These conditions can be present as different types and combinations of health problems for different lengths of time.
According to the IEDCR report, they have primarily observed the post Covid conditions after three, six, nine, and 12 months in 78%, 70%, 68% and 45% cases respectively.
Patients with non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes are at a higher risk of the conditions, it added.
The report also mentioned that diabetes patients, who took medicine regularly, are 7% less likely to have post covid conditions than patients taking regular medications.
Similarly, those who are under regular medication for blood pressure are 9% less likely to have post covid conditions.
The report did not show the sample size and period of the research conducted.
However, the director of the organization, Prof Tahmina Shirin, told Dhaka Tribune that it is an ongoing research and data could be changed after two weeks or a month.
“That’s the reason we did not mention the period and sample size of the research,” she added.
The research result was published to show the benefit of taking regular medication by diabetes and high blood pressure patients. “We are urging these patients to take proper medications,” she said.
The IEDCR hoped that this ongoing research would help present updated information on post covid conditions in the country onward.
The US CDC had identified around 20 types of new or ongoing symptoms, including difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, tiredness or fatigue, symptoms that get worse after physical or mental activities (also known as post-exertional malaise), difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes referred to as brain fog), chest or stomach pain, fast-beating or pounding heart (also known as heart palpitations), Joint or muscle pain, pins-and-needles feeling, sleep problems and so on.
Some people who had severe illness with Covid-19 experience multiorgan effects or autoimmune conditions after contracting Covid-19. Multiorgan effects can affect many, if not all, body systems, including heart, lung, kidney, skin, and brain functions, it added.
Effects of hospitalization can also include post-intensive care syndrome (PICS), and can remain after a person returns home. These effects can include severe weakness, problems with thinking and judgement, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD involves long-term reactions to a very stressful event.
Although post covid conditions appear to be less common in children and adolescents than in adults, long-term effects after Covid-19 do occur in children and adolescents.
Similar to the symptoms seen in adults, the most common symptoms reported have been tiredness or fatigue, headache, trouble sleeping (insomnia), trouble concentrating, muscle and joint pain, and cough.