Long Covid patients still affected one year after discharge, study finds

One year after hospital discharge, the study found fewer than three in 10 patients felt fully recovered

Most people who had long Covid lasting five months after hospital treatment are still suffering after a year, new research has suggested.

The Leicester-led PHOSP-Covid study assessed 2,230 adults hospitalised with the virus, who had to undergo five-month and 12-month assessments.

Researchers found fewer than three in 10 felt they had fully recovered after a year.

This was largely unchanged from 2.5 in 10 at five months.

All participants completed the five-month assessment and, so far, 807 people have completed both the five-month and 12-month assessments.

The most common ongoing symptoms were fatigue, muscle pain, physically slowing down, poor sleep and breathlessness.

The study also confirmed earlier research that those who are female, obese and needed mechanical ventilation in hospital, were less likely to make a full recovery from Covid-19.

'Sizeable population at risk'

Chris Brightling, NIHR senior investigator and professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Leicester, said: "Our findings show that people who were hospitalised and went on to develop long Covid are not getting substantially better a year after they were discharged from hospital.

"Many patients in our study had not fully recovered at five months and most of these reported little positive change in their health condition at one year.

"When you consider that over half a million people in the UK have been admitted to hospital as a result of Covid-19, we are talking about a sizeable population at risk of persistent ill health and reduced quality of life."

Dr Rachael Evans, University of Leicester associate professor and a lead author of the paper, said: "We urgently need healthcare packages and medicines that target the potentially treatable traits of long Covid to help people feel better and get back to their normal lives.

"Without these, long Covid has the potential to become highly prevalent as a new long-term condition."

The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, was led by NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre - a partnership between Leicester's hospitals, the University of Leicester and Loughborough University - and jointly funded by the NIHR and MRC-UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).