ISLAMABAD, Oct.7 (ONLINE): Long COVID isn\u2019t the only respiratory illness that has symptoms that can interfere with daily life for weeks on end. A new study finds that lingering symptoms from the common cold or the flu also can negatively impact people\u2019s lives long-term.<\/p>\n
People with long COVID were more likely than people with long colds to experience problems with taste and smell, hair loss, unusual sweating, higher heart rate, and memory problems.<\/p>\n
Common symptoms among people with long colds were coughing, stomach pain, and diarrhea.<\/p>\n
The study was published Friday in a sister journal to The Lancet called eClinical Medicine.<\/p>\n
The findings are based on data collected in January and February of 2021 from people living in the United Kingdom. The people in the study were not vaccinated for COVID-19. <\/p>\n
This group was chosen for the study because they all had answered questions about long-term symptoms. At this time, there were enough people who had been infected with COVID to be a large enough group to study. <\/p>\n
However, since vaccinations weren\u2019t widely available, the data was less likely to be affected by vaccination status.<\/p>\n
Researchers compared data from more than 1,700 people across two groups:
\n\u2022\tpeople who previously had COVID-19 and
\n\u2022\tpeople who had a non-COVID respiratory illness, which included the flu, bronchitis, pneumonia, and the common cold. <\/p>\n
A comparison group of more than 8,000 people with neither COVID nor respiratory illness was also analyzed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur findings shine a light not only on the impact of long Covid on people\u2019s lives, but also respiratory infections. A lack of awareness \u2014 or even the lack of a common term \u2014 prevents both reporting and diagnosis of these conditions,\u201d said researcher Giulia Vivaldi, an epidemiology doctoral student at Queen Mary University of London, in a statement. \u201cAs research into Long Covid continues, we need to take the opportunity to investigate and consider the lasting effects of other acute respiratory infections.\u201d<\/p>\n
In August, the CDC estimated that 1 in 10 people who get COVID go on to experience long COVID, which was defined in that estimate as symptoms lasting at least 3 months. <\/p>\n
For this new study comparing long COVID to long colds, the definition was symptoms lasting at least 4 weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD, Oct.7 (ONLINE): Long COVID isn\u2019t the only respiratory illness that has symptoms that can interfere with daily life for weeks on end. A new study finds that lingering symptoms from the common cold or the flu also can negatively impact people\u2019s lives long-term. People […]<\/p>\n
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