Nearly a third of people who were discharged from hospitals in England after being treated for COVID-19 were readmitted within five months – and almost one in eight died, a study suggests.
The research, which is still to be peer-reviewed, also found a higher risk of problems developing in a range of organs after hospital discharge in those younger than 70 and ethnic minority individuals.
“There’s been so much talk about all these people dying from Covid … but death is not the only outcome that matters,” said Dr Charlotte Summers, a lecturer in intensive care medicine at the University of Cambridge who was not involved in this study.
“The idea that we have that level of increased risk in people – particularly young people – it means we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
There is no consensus on the scale and impact of “long Covid”, but scientists have described emerging evidence as concerning. According to recent figures provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), a fifth of people in England still have coronavirus symptoms five weeks after being infected, half of whom continue to experience problems for at least 12 weeks.
Source: The Guardian, 18 January 2021
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