The “post‐COVID” syndrome: How deep is the damage?

Abstract

We congratulate Halpin and colleagues 1 on their work to identify residual symptoms in patients with microbiological recovery from COVID‐19. The prevalence of residual symptoms in their cohort is much higher than estimates of 35% among out‐patient, 2 but comparable with recent cohorts of hospitalized patients (87%). 3 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome. Incidence and risk factors: A Mediterranean cohort study

“…The strength of our study is based on four main points, which in turn are the main criticisms to the series published [6] Limitations include possible undetected pre-COVID abnormalities in the patients, the exclusion of some patients with severe comorbidity, the absence of imaging to evaluate myocardial involvement, the lack of study of the diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO), the relatively small sample size to detect minor associations, some identified statistical associations with changes in spirometry may not be explained by biological plausibility and the single-center design, as well as the need for long-term follow-up.…”

Risk factors for prolonged fatigue after recovery from COVID‐19

“…To differentiate these confounding factors from the true postviral syndrome, we included only mild COVID-19 patients since they are unlikely to have chronic organ impairment. 9 Fatigue, postexertional malaise, dyspnea, and cognitive dysfunction are common symptoms of anemia. Iron supplementation in iron deficiency states, even without anemia, improves subjective fatigue and quality of life.…”

Gibt es ein Post-COVID-Syndrom?

“…Beispielsweise könnten einfache Laboruntersuchungen durchaus beeinflussbare Hintergründe einer Fatigue identifizieren: Anämie, Vitamin-D-Mangel, Hypothyreose, Kortisoldefizit, chronische Nierenerkrankung [4].…”