LDN - Health and Fitness

Nine in ten recovered COVID-19 patients experience side-effects, study shows

[September 29, 2020] By Sangmi Cha

SEOUL (Reuters) - Nine in ten coronavirus patients reported experiencing side-effects such as fatigue, psychological after-effects and loss of smell and taste after they recovered from the disease, according to a preliminary study by South Korea.

The research comes as the global death toll from COVID-19 passed 1 million on Tuesday, a grim milestone in a pandemic that has devastated the global economy, overloaded health systems and changed the way people live.

In an online survey of 965 recovered COVID-19 patients, 879 people or 91.1% responded they were suffering at least one side-effect from the disease, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) official Kwon Jun-wook told a briefing.

Fatigue was the most common side-effect with 26.2% reading, followed by difficulty in concentration which had 24.6%, Kwon said.

Other after-effects included psychological or mental side-effects and loss of taste or smell.

Kim Shin-woo, professor of internal medicine at Kyungpook National University School of Medicine in Daegu, sought comments from 5,762 recovered patients in South Korea and 16.7% of them participated in the survey, said Kwon.

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While the research was done online for now, lead researcher Kim will soon publish the study with detailed analysis, he said.

South Korea is also conducting a separate study with some 16 medical organisations on potential complications of the disease through a detailed analysis involving CT scans on recovered patients next year, Kwon told the briefing.

The country reported 38 new infections by midnight on Monday, for a fifth day of double-digit increases, taking the national tally to 23,699 cases, with 407 deaths.

(Reporting by Sangmi Cha; Editing by Miyoung Kim)

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