5 ms·

Do you have a source on how common severe long-term effects from Covid are? All I’ve seen are anecdotes.

mcintyre1994 6y ago
There are some stats here for the UK, based on a symptom tracking app that's been active since about March. https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-long-covid-warning-as-study-finds-one-in-20-have-virus-symptoms-for-eight-weeks-or-more-12109990 https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-long-covid-warning-as... > One in 20 people with coronavirus are likely to have symptoms for eight weeks or more, according to a new study by King's College London. > The research, which uses data from the COVID Symptom Study App, suggested so-called "long COVID" affects around 10% of 18 to 49-year-olds who become unwell with coronavirus. Whole study is here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/study-identifies-those-most-risk-long-covid https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/study-identifies-those-most-risk-...
- umanwizard 6y ago
  From your first link: 10% had any symptoms lasting longer than four weeks. That’s not “severe long-term effects”. The actual study seems to say 1 in 20 have symptoms for eight weeks, which might be closer to what you could fairly describe as “long-term”, but says nothing about the severity (though I haven’t waded through the whole article). Anyway, the drop-off from 10% having symptoms at 4 weeks to 5% at 8 weeks is encouraging - it intuitively suggests that the negative symptoms aren’t permanent, even if they take a long time to go away.
  - breakfastduck 6y ago
    8 weeks certainly shouldn't be classified as 'long term'. Long term health effect claims are being made all over the show - if this is the measure that is outrageous reporting. Most people would worry about 'long term health effects' as they'd usually assume that it's going to go on for years.
    - LandR 6y ago
      Yeah, last time I was sick I had the flu. I had lingering effects for around 8-10 weeks after. Eventually I had to go to hospital to get checked. I feel a lot of Covid effects are being massively overblown because people aren't aware that other more common viruses that we don't worry about can have these "long term" effects as well.
      - jlokier 6y ago
        People aren't worried about 8-10 weeks of lingering effects. Those 4 week and 8 week statistics are part of an attempt to understand what's going on. It doesn't mean 8 weeks is considered long covid. They are worried about effects where people got it months ago and are still disabled from it. Things like still struggling to walk upstairs 6 months after getting covid. And that young, fit people are reporting it, not just "old". The worry is that it doesn't appear to be getting better for them yet. The greatest worry is that people who get it might never recover, or might take years to recover. We can't know yet. Flu and other viruses affect some people that way, but it's a small number of unlucky people. The worry is that the number affected by long covid in this way are a much larger number of people.
        breakfastduck 6y ago
        I have a colleague who is essentially disabled from it & has not returned to work, after 8 months, so I have first hand experience of what you speak. My fear is that this is super, super, super rare, but figures are including long term as low as 8 weeks, so we have absolutely no idea how small / large the number of people having this critical level of long term effect actually is.
    - jlokier 6y ago
      > Most people would worry about 'long term health effects' as they'd usually assume that it's going to go on for years. There are plenty of anecdotes to be found of people reporting debilitating long-covid symptoms for 6 months so far. That's "still sick since I had it back in March/April". (It hasn't been around for a year so nothing can be said about that timescale yet.) That's significant enough that public health officials are talking openly about it as a concern, so it's not just a few isolated anecdata. There are some reports suggesting neurological impairment. Along with observed blood changes (thickening), which is concerning regarding long term damage for rational reasons. If that turns out to be true, that sort of damage tends to never completely recover. Rather you learn to adapt and live with it.
deleted 6y ago
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mcintyre1994 6y ago

There are some stats here for the UK, based on a symptom tracking app that's been active since about March. https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-long-covid-warning-as-study-finds-one-in-20-have-virus-symptoms-for-eight-weeks-or-more-12109990 https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-long-covid-warning-as... > One in 20 people with coronavirus are likely to have symptoms for eight weeks or more, according to a new study by King's College London. > The research, which uses data from the COVID Symptom Study App, suggested so-called "long COVID" affects around 10% of 18 to 49-year-olds who become unwell with coronavirus. Whole study is here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/study-identifies-those-most-risk-long-covid https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/study-identifies-those-most-risk-...

umanwizard 6y ago
From your first link: 10% had any symptoms lasting longer than four weeks. That’s not “severe long-term effects”. The actual study seems to say 1 in 20 have symptoms for eight weeks, which might be closer to what you could fairly describe as “long-term”, but says nothing about the severity (though I haven’t waded through the whole article). Anyway, the drop-off from 10% having symptoms at 4 weeks to 5% at 8 weeks is encouraging - it intuitively suggests that the negative symptoms aren’t permanent, even if they take a long time to go away.
- breakfastduck 6y ago
  8 weeks certainly shouldn't be classified as 'long term'. Long term health effect claims are being made all over the show - if this is the measure that is outrageous reporting. Most people would worry about 'long term health effects' as they'd usually assume that it's going to go on for years.
  - LandR 6y ago
    Yeah, last time I was sick I had the flu. I had lingering effects for around 8-10 weeks after. Eventually I had to go to hospital to get checked. I feel a lot of Covid effects are being massively overblown because people aren't aware that other more common viruses that we don't worry about can have these "long term" effects as well.
    - jlokier 6y ago
      People aren't worried about 8-10 weeks of lingering effects. Those 4 week and 8 week statistics are part of an attempt to understand what's going on. It doesn't mean 8 weeks is considered long covid. They are worried about effects where people got it months ago and are still disabled from it. Things like still struggling to walk upstairs 6 months after getting covid. And that young, fit people are reporting it, not just "old". The worry is that it doesn't appear to be getting better for them yet. The greatest worry is that people who get it might never recover, or might take years to recover. We can't know yet. Flu and other viruses affect some people that way, but it's a small number of unlucky people. The worry is that the number affected by long covid in this way are a much larger number of people.
      - breakfastduck 6y ago
        I have a colleague who is essentially disabled from it & has not returned to work, after 8 months, so I have first hand experience of what you speak. My fear is that this is super, super, super rare, but figures are including long term as low as 8 weeks, so we have absolutely no idea how small / large the number of people having this critical level of long term effect actually is.
  - jlokier 6y ago
    > Most people would worry about 'long term health effects' as they'd usually assume that it's going to go on for years. There are plenty of anecdotes to be found of people reporting debilitating long-covid symptoms for 6 months so far. That's "still sick since I had it back in March/April". (It hasn't been around for a year so nothing can be said about that timescale yet.) That's significant enough that public health officials are talking openly about it as a concern, so it's not just a few isolated anecdata. There are some reports suggesting neurological impairment. Along with observed blood changes (thickening), which is concerning regarding long term damage for rational reasons. If that turns out to be true, that sort of damage tends to never completely recover. Rather you learn to adapt and live with it.

deleted 6y ago

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