From downunder...
A recent Monash University study, led by Professor Carol Hodgson, has found six months
after recovering from COVID-19 critical illness, one in five people had died, and almost
40% of survivors had a new disability.
Professor Hodgson and her colleagues looked at COVID-19 critical illness across Australia
between 6 March 6 and 4 October 2020, measuring mortality, new disability and return to
work in people who had been admitted to intensive care units.
The study found 71.3% of surviving patients reported persistent symptoms such as
shortness of breath, loss of strength, fatigue, headaches and loss of sense of smell and
taste after recovering from the critical illness.
There was also a significant decrease in health-related quality of life across all domains,
but particular participants reported new problems with mobility (33.9%), usual activities
(43.2%) and pain (34.2%), as well as cognitive impairment (33.3%), and one fifth (20%)
reporting anxiety, (20.2%), depression (20%) and/or PTSD (18.4%). More than one in
10 survivors were unemployed due to poor health.
"Because COVID-19 is a new disease, the impact on long term outcomes in survivors is still
emerging; however these findings suggest that patients should be screened at hospital
discharge for new functional impairments, as the burden of new disability after critical illness
with COVID-19 represents an urgent public health problem", Professor Hodgson said.
A recent Monash University study, led by Professor Carol Hodgson, has found six months
after recovering from COVID-19 critical illness, one in five people had died, and almost
40% of survivors had a new disability.
Professor Hodgson and her colleagues looked at COVID-19 critical illness across Australia
between 6 March 6 and 4 October 2020, measuring mortality, new disability and return to
work in people who had been admitted to intensive care units.
The study found 71.3% of surviving patients reported persistent symptoms such as
shortness of breath, loss of strength, fatigue, headaches and loss of sense of smell and
taste after recovering from the critical illness.
There was also a significant decrease in health-related quality of life across all domains,
but particular participants reported new problems with mobility (33.9%), usual activities
(43.2%) and pain (34.2%), as well as cognitive impairment (33.3%), and one fifth (20%)
reporting anxiety, (20.2%), depression (20%) and/or PTSD (18.4%). More than one in
10 survivors were unemployed due to poor health.
"Because COVID-19 is a new disease, the impact on long term outcomes in survivors is still
emerging; however these findings suggest that patients should be screened at hospital
discharge for new functional impairments, as the burden of new disability after critical illness
with COVID-19 represents an urgent public health problem", Professor Hodgson said.
I'm a creationist; I believe that man created God.
