Investigation from Hamburg
Study shows organ damage even after milder corona courses
Mild to moderate Covid-19 courses can also have health consequences
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A study by the Hamburg University Hospital provides further information on the possible consequences of a corona infection: According to this, people with milder symptoms can also suffer organ damage.
Early on in the pandemic, it became clear that Covid-19 can affect not only lung tissue, but also other organs, such as the kidneys. Investigations into possible consequential damage often take place in hospital-treated, formerly seriously ill Covid-19 patients. There is far less data on the possible health effects of mild to moderate illness.
A study by the University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf (UKE) now provides further information. Accordingly, people who were initially only mildly or moderately ill with Covid-19 can suffer damage to organs in the medium term.
The researchers examined 443 people an average of ten months after surviving an illness. All participants were previously only mildly or “at most moderately” ill with Covid-19, it is said in a communication on the study. The ages ranged from 45 to 74 years. The vast majority of the patients (93 percent) had been treated purely on an outpatient basis; no one had required intensive medical treatment. A group of 1328 people of similar age, gender and educational status was used for comparison. The data set is from a time before the outbreak of the pandemic. So the people were all demonstrably not infected with Covid-19. The study was published in the “European Heart Journal”.
In the Covid convalescence, the function of the heart, lungs and kidneys was impaired in the medium term, the researchers report. Using a lung test, they registered a roughly three percent reduction in lung volume and a slightly increased airway resistance. In addition, a special marker was elevated in the blood of those who had recovered, which provides information about the stress on the heart. The heart’s pumping power was reduced by one to two percent, and kidney function by around two percent.
Increased leg vein thrombosis
It was also shown that the former Covid-19 patients had suffered more blood clots in the past. During ultrasound examinations of the legs, the researchers found signs of a previous leg vein thrombosis two to three times more often. It has long been known that Covid-19 has an effect on blood clotting.
“The realization that even a mild course of the disease can lead to damage to various organs in the medium term is of utmost importance, especially with regard to the current Omicron variant, which mostly seems to be associated with milder symptoms,” the researchers report in a press release.
It is unclear whether the impairments observed will persist in the long term or whether they will subside again after a period of ten months. At least on the quality of life of the people, the recorded damage apparently did not affect: Here the study participants reported no deterioration compared to the control group.