A new study in the United States on long-term COVID-19 provides new evidence that this can occur even after a vaccine outbreak in vaccinated people and that the elderly are at higher risk for long-term effects.
A new study in the United States on long-term COVID-19 provides new evidence that this can occur even after a vaccine outbreak in vaccinated people and that the elderly are at higher risk for long-term effects.
In a study of veterans published on Wednesday, about a third who had breakthrough infections showed signs of prolonged COVID.
A separate report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that up to one year after initial coronavirus infection, 1 in 4 adults aged 65 and over had at least one potential long-term health problem with COVID, compared to 1 in 5. younger adults.
Long-term COVID refers to each of more than two dozen symptoms that persist, recur, or first appear at least one month after coronavirus infection. They can affect all parts of the body and can include fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog and blood clots.
Coronavirus vaccines, which help prevent initial infections and serious illnesses, provide some protection against long-term COVID, but growing research shows not as much as scientists originally hoped.
The Veterans Study, published in Nature Medicine, reviewed the medical records of mostly white male veterans, averaging 60 years of age. Of the 13 million veterans, nearly 3 million were vaccinated last year, by October.
About 1% or nearly 34,000 have developed sudden infections. Lead author Dr. Ziyad Al-Ali noted that the study was conducted before the highly contagious version of omicron appeared at the end of the year, and said the rate of sudden infections was likely to increase.
Breakthrough infections and long-term symptoms of COVID are more common among those who received a single dose of Johnson & Johnson injection than two doses of Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. It is not known if anyone has received booster injections; the first booster was not good in the United States until the end of September.
Overall, 32% had long-term symptoms of COVID up to six months after sudden infections. This is compared to 36% of unvaccinated veterans who have been infected and developed COVID for a long time.
Vaccination reduces the chances of any long-term symptoms of COVID by a “modest 15%”, although it halves the risk of long-term breathing or clotting problems, said Al-Ali, a researcher at the University of Washington and Veterans Health in St. Petersburg. Louis. These symptoms include constant shortness of breath or cough and blood clots in the lungs or veins of the legs.
Infectious Diseases Specialist Dr. Christine Inglund, who runs a long-term COVID center at the Cleveland Clinic, said the Nature Medicine study reflected what she saw at her clinic. Long-term patients with COVID there include people who have been vaccinated and received boosters.
“As we do not have clear treatments for long-term COVID, it is important that everyone is vaccinated and use other proven prevention methods, such as masking and social distancing, to prevent COVID infections and thus long-term COVID,” Englund said.
A CDC report released on Tuesday used medical records for nearly 2 million adults in the United States from the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 to last November. These include 353,000 who had COVID-19. Patients were followed for up to one year to determine if they had developed any of the 26 health conditions attributed to long-term COVID.
Those who had COVID were much more likely than other adults without COVID to develop at least one of these conditions, and the risks were greatest for those aged 65 and over. Vaccination, gender and race information were not included.
Breathing problems and muscle aches were among the most common conditions.
Risks in the elderly are higher for certain conditions, including strokes, brain fog, kidney failure and mental health problems. The findings are worrying because these conditions could accelerate older people’s needs for long-term care, the report said.
They emphasized that routine assessment of all patients with COVID was “crucial to reducing the frequency” of long-term COVID.
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Follow AP medical writer Lindsay Tanner at @LindseyTanner.
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The Associated Press’s Department of Health and Science receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Scientific Education. AP is solely responsible for all content.
Lindsay Tanner, Associated Press
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