It’s been two years since the outrageous Covid-19 virus had attacked human civilization all over the world. Despite the best efforts and outstanding continuous work by our healthcare workers, Covid-19 is not leaving its symptoms, even attaching severe acute problems to some people post their Covid-19 treatment.
COVID-19: Post Hospitalization Conditions
With the help of prior reports and subsequent studies, it is revealed that people hospitalized with Covid-19 infections have significantly higher chances of death and rehospitalization within a week of their discharge than the general population.
The study led by Krishnan Bhaskaran, PDH, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London, U.K concludes that “Compared with people in the general population, people who had had a Covid-19 hospitalization were more than twice as likely to be re-hospitalized or die more than a week after discharge, with higher risks overall and for a range of specific causes”.
Prior to this study, it was observed by a team of researchers and doctors that people infected with Covid-19 were at the risk to develop other diseases within a week of their discharge from hospitals. Such a condition was noticed in many other countries, which has become a major health concern among healthcare workers all over the world. But there was no precise evidence to show the exact numbers. So, the study was aimed to quantify the extent to which people hospitalized with Covid-19 may be at higher risk of death or readmission in hospital, for any specific illness, compared with the general population and people who were admitted to the hospital with influenza.
A cohort study was carried out with the help of routinely collected electronic data from primary care practice, using the TPP SystmOne software. All individuals discharged between 1 February and 30 December 2020 from hospitals lasting for more than 1 day and primarily diagnosed with Covid-19 were selected and who remain alive and undergo follow-up in TPP practice after 1 week of their discharge. Two other groups were also selected for comparison. Firstly, the people who undergo follow-up in the year 2019 among the general population, and second, all those individuals discharged from hospitals in the year 2017-2019 where influenza was the primary reason for hospitalization and who remain alive and undergo follow-up 1 week after discharge.
It was found that subsequent hospitalization or death in the Covid-19 group was significantly higher than in the general population but lower than in the influenza group. Moreover, the mortality rate remains higher in the Covid-19 group as compared to the general population and the influenza group.
Now the post-Covid conditions will be a major concern among the doctors and it will burden their work subsequently. Though the high rates of vaccination campaigns are helping the infected people to get rid of Covid-19, some people do experience post-Covid conditions. These post-Covid conditions may cause death or any other health problems which may last for several months such as difficulty in breathing, tiredness, exertional malaise, brain fog, chest/stomach pain, sleep problems, fever, light-headedness, mood changes, etc. Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS) is rare but seen mostly in children during or after Covid-19 infection, wherein the different body organs such as lung, kidney, skin, brain function can become inflamed.
The study suggests a need to closely monitor the infected people discharged from the hospital for some weeks so that their post-Covid conditions can be identified and examined. It is further suggested to prevent Covid-19 infection at first, to stay away from post-Covid conditions and the only precaution is to get vaccinated as soon as possible, so that you may protect yourself and the people in your surroundings.
