How long it takes to recover after a Covid-19 infection varies for different people - a new study has revealed that some people suffer with symptoms much longer than others.
The research conducted by the University of Leicester found that only one in four patients hospitalised with Covid-19 are fully recovered after a year, with others still struggling with symptoms.
Christopher Brightling, who co-led the study published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal, said: "Without effective treatments, Long Covid could become a highly prevalent new long-term condition."
Here's who is most likely to be affected by Long Covid, according to the study, as well as common symptoms of the condition.
What did the Long Covid study find?
The new Long Covid study from UK researchers found that only 26% of people hospitalised with coronavirus reported a full recovery after five months, and only 28.9% after a full year.
It was also found that women affected by the virus were 33% less likely than men to make a full recovery. Those who are obese and those who required mechanical ventilation were even more at risk of continuing to struggle after the initial infection.
The study added that many people were still showing serious symptoms of Long Covid even a year after leaving the hospital, including "reduced exercise capacity and large decrements in health-related quality of life".
A previous version of this study also identified four groups or clusters of the severity of Long Covid symptoms at five months after infection.
Of these, 20% people had very severe physical and mental health impairment, 30% had severe physical and mental health impairment, 11% with moderate physical health impairment with cognitive impairment, and 39% with mild impairment of physical mental health.
According to Christopher Brightling from the study, there is an "urgent need healthcare services to support this large and rapidly increasing patient population".
He added that the study could also provide the basis for investigating long Covid treatments to restore a patient's "health-related quality of life".
The findings from the Long Covid research will also be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon, Portugal.
What are the most common symptoms of Long Covid?
Long Covid, in which people suffer from symptoms for weeks or several months after Covid-19 infection, has become a new long-term condition.
Some of the most common symptoms of Long Covid are breathlessness, fatigue, muscle pain, sleep problems, limb weakness, slowing down physically as well as mental health impairment.
