Long Covid affects quality of life worse than stage IV lung cancer: Study

The research was conducted on 3,750 patients and funded by the UK's Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

Long Covid, a medical condition experienced by those facing coronavirus-related symptoms for at least 12 weeks following an acute infection, affects the quality of life more severely as compared to stage IV lung cancer, according to a recent study.

A bulk of the long Covid patients remained "extremely unwell", and experienced fatigue which is similar to, or even worse than, persons reeling under severe kidney impairment or cancer-related anaemia, says the study which has been conducted by researchers at the University College London (UCL) and the University of Exeter.

The research, published in the BMJ Open medical journal and funded by the UK's Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), assessed the impact of long Covid among 3,750 patients based in Britain.

The patients were asked to use a digital app and answer questions related to the impact of long Covid on their daily lives, and whether they were suffering from fatigue, brain fog, breathlessness, depression and anxiety.

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"Our results have found that long Covid can have a devastating effect on the lives of patients - with fatigue having the biggest impact on everything from social activities to work, chores and maintaining close relationships," news agency ANI quoted Dr Henry Goodfellow, who co-led the study, as saying.

The patients' quality of life scores were lower as compared to those suffering from advanced metastatic malignancies, such as stage IV lung cancer, the researchers said, after analysing the responses received from those examined.

"Shockingly, our research has revealed that long COVID can leave people with worse fatigue and quality of life than some cancers, yet the support and understanding is not at the same level," said Professor William Henley, who is the other co-author of the research.

Among those assessed in the study, 90 percent of the patients were in the working age group of 18-65 years. Around 20 percent among them said they were not being able to work at all, whereas, 51 percent said they were required to take leaves due to their health, the research further noted.