POST-COVID-19 SYNDROME: SYMPTOMS AND RISK FACTORS

Abstract

Relevance. Long COVID or post-COVID-19 syndrome first gained widespread recognition among social support groups and then in the scientific and medical community. The disease is poorly understood because it affects Covid-19 survivors at all levels of disease severity, even young adults, children and those who have not been hospitalized. The most common symptoms reported in many studies are radiation and shortness of breath, which continue for several months after acute COVID-19 illness. Aim. Review of modern and relevant research on symptoms and risk factors for the development of post-Covid syndrome. Search strategy. A systematic search was conducted without language restrictions from database inception in PubMed/MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science Core Collection, Google/Google Scholar and selected reference lists. Primary research articles were selected that assessed people at least 12 weeks after a confirmed diagnosis of COVID19 and specifically reported on fatigue, cognitive impairment, inflammatory parameters, or functional impairment outcomes. A number of original articles and reviews on research topics over the past 5 years have been analyzed, this is the period 2019- 2024. The main words were used: complication of acute COVID-19, post-Covid syndrome after acute COVID-19, prolonged COVID-19, chronic COVID-19. The literature search yielded 2786 studies, of which 89 studies were selected for inclusion. Results. Post-COVID-19 syndrome is defined by the persistence of clinical signs and symptoms that occur during or after exposure to COVID-19, persist for more than 12 weeks, and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis. Symptoms may fluctuate or flare up. It is a heterogeneous disease that includes post-viral chronic fatigue syndrome, multi-organ damage and the consequences of severe hospitalization after intensive care. 10–65% of survivors of mild or moderate COVID-19 experience symptoms of post-coronavirus syndrome for 12 weeks or more. After six months, patients report an average of 14 persistent symptoms. The most common symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath, disturbances in attention, concentration, memory and sleep, anxiety and depression. The underlying biological mechanisms are unknown, although abnormal or excessive autoimmune and inflammatory responses may play an important role. Conclusions. The global pandemic of Covid-19 infection has led to the emergence of the chronic disease Covid-19, which reduces the quality of life of patients and leads to multiple organ damage. Long-term Covid infection has become an important problem attracting the attention of science and medical scientists. Even if we assume that only 10 percent of those infected with Covid develop long Covid, this means that around 5 million people worldwide suffer from long Covid. But this figure could be even higher. The information presented in this review, which is not widely available elsewhere in the literature, may serve as a starting point for further research into long COVID.