The Government on Tuesday told Parliament that shortness of breath, fatigue, and mental health issues have been observed in Covid patients one year after discharge. It also revealed that some patients have reported development of new symptoms such as hypertension and diabetes.
Replying to a query in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said participants of the National Clinical Registry of Covid who were followed for a year reported dyspnea or shortness of breath (18.6 per cent), fatigue ( 10.5 per cent) and mental health issues (9.3 per cent) after 30-60 days post-discharge.
She said that Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has sanctioned studies on post-Covid sequelae to explore the possibility of a study of the association of major complications and coronavirus infection as part of the Covid registry.
At one-year follow-up, dyspnea, fatigue, and mental health issues were reduced to 11.9 per cent, 6.6 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively in 2,192 participants, Pawar said.
Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), an autonomous Institute under the Department of Biotechnology, has revealed in their preliminary analysis of the data that approximately 2 per cent of the participants have reported the development of new symptoms such as hypertension and diabetes, she stated.