Medical Minute: Long Lasting Effects Of COVID-19

For one in every five people who get COVID-19, the symptoms persist for months—if not years.

New research out of "Northwestern Medicine" finds that millions of people who tested negative for the virus may actually have long-term COVID-19.

Brain fog, memory problems, fatigue, anxiety, depression, insomnia, breathing problems, muscle aches, and heart issues – the symptoms of long-term COVID-19 can be life-changing.

Neurologist Igor Koralnik is part of a team that studied more than 18 hundred long covid patients.

Their study found 83 percent of patients had abnormal CT chest scans, 51 percent – had cognitive impairment, 45 percent – altered lung function and 12 percent had an elevated heart rate. Long-term COVID has become the third leading neurologic disorder in the U.S. Thirty million people have been affected.

Long-term COVID hits women in their forties, who were never hospitalized earlier due to COVID-19.

Women are four times more likely than men to develop autoimmune diseases. Now Doctor Koralnik encourages patients to keep looking for a customized treatment that works for them.