55% of Hospitalized COVID Patients Still Had Symptoms at 2 Years

55% of Hospitalized COVID Patients Still Had Symptoms at 2 Years 'Ongoing follow-up of COVID-19 survivors is essential,' researcher says Molly Walker medpagetoday

More than half of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, during the initial outbreak reported at least one symptom a couple of years later, researchers found.

The proportion of COVID-19 survivors with at least one sequelae symptom 2 years later came in at 55%, and the most frequent symptoms were fatigue or muscle weakness, reported Bin Cao, MD, of China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, and colleagues.

In addition, 12% of patients reported symptoms of anxiety or depression 2 years later, they wrote in Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

"Regardless of initial disease severity, COVID-19 survivors had longitudinal improvements in physical and mental health, with most returning to their original work within 2 years; however, the burden of symptomatic sequelae remained fairly high," the group wrote. "COVID-19 survivors had a remarkably lower health status than the general population at 2 years."

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