Aftereffects of Covid-19 affect brains, heart and kidney

The aftereffect of Covid-19 was found to appear across in most human organs including brains, heart, kidneys and even hairs, causing the loss thereof, not only lungs or other respiratory organs contrary to the popular belief.

On Thursday, a team of researchers led by Jang Tae-ik, a nephrology professor at NHIS Ilsan Hosptal, announced the findings from their research on the aftereffects of Covid-19 patients. The team conducted a comparison analysis on a total of 131,928 individuals consisting of three groups of 43,967 patients – covid patients, influenza patients and the unaffected. The covid group includes adults aged over 20 among those diagnosed with the coronavirus in 2020 (excluding the non-survivors).

Their research found a total of 61 types of aftereffects of the coronavirus, three months after the point of infection. Compared to the unaffected, the covid group was 7.9 times more likely to suffer from olfactory disorders. The incidence rates of other side-effects were also significantly higher such as Bronchiectasis (3.6 times), pneumonia (3.6 times), severe myasthenia (3.5 times), hair loss (3.4 times) compared to those who were not infected with the coronavirus.

Most of the adverse side effects occurred within three months. Notably, four out of ten (or 39.9%) covid patients were found to have visited hospitals owing to the diseased they developed within three months following their covid diagnosis. “If you show symptoms of new diseases within the three-month period, you need to have it checked to see it is a side effect of the coronavirus,” Prof. Jang said.

Some point out the need to conduct additional research on the aftereffects of the coronavirus. “The patterns of aftereffects can vary from variants to variants, so there is clearly a need for more in-depth research into that matter,” the team of researchers said. The year of 2020 when the research was conducted was before the Delta or Omicron became the dominant variant in South Korea. For now, Omicron BA.2 is found to be the country’s dominant variant of coronavirus.

Experts predict that the trajectory of contagion will show a moderate fall over the months to come. A team led by Jeong Eun-ok, a math professor at Konkuk University, released a report “The Epidemiological Predictions on Covid-19” under the National Institute for Mathematical Sciences, putting the number of daily confirmed cases at 65,571 on May 4 before falling to 35,365 on May 18. As of 12 a.m. Thursday, the newly confirmed covid cases in Korea stood at 90,867.


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