Long Term Complications of COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory illness. It is caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). It has gained widespread recognition after it originated from China. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as an international public health emergency. Patients of COVID-19 develop long-time complications along with severe health problems as it majorly affects the respiratory system, utilizing angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. Characteristic symptoms include fever, cough, and dyspnea, although some patients may be asymptomatic. People need extensive care to be protected from anxiety and depression. This outbreak harmed various organ systems and led to the development of long-term complications such as respiratory failure, pneumonia, pancreatic complications, cardiac injury, secondary infections, renal disorders, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and rhabdomyolysis. Individuals with comorbidities are at higher risk of illness and mortality. The risk is also increasing in older people, especially people the age of 60-80 years or more. The most prevalent comorbidities are asthma, neurologic disorders, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and malignancy/hematologic conditions. As there is no specific treatment available so far, therefore complications of this disease are also increased by the use of non-specific drugs. The recovery of these patients is another major challenge for health care professionals. So in this chapter, we will discuss long-term complications associated with COVID-19.

Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Diabetes, Mortality, Neurological effect, Pandemic, Renal effect, Respiratory effect, Rheumatoid arthritis.