Researchers are scrambling to gain a clearer picture of how long COVID could impact local health systems after one of the most extensive longitudinal studies worldwide flagged it as a major issue, with over 11 per cent of patients reporting persistent symptoms after two years.
The latest finding from the Chinese study has roughly tallied with those in the ACT health system, in which the head of Canberra's post-COVID recovery clinic, Dr Philip Gaughwin, estimated between 5 to 15 per cent of patients reported ongoing long COVID symptoms.
The issue in tackling the problem - which overseas is fast developing into a massive, ongoing burden to health systems - is very little hard data exists on it in Australia, where proportionally residents have a much higher national vaccination rate than many other countries.
Whether these high vaccination rates will prevent our health system getting hit as hard as elsewhere, and which particular clinical areas will be worse hit than others, is to be determined.
However, data released this week by the federal department of health warned current research estimated between 10-20 per cent of COVID-19 patients would have "prolonged symptoms of varying duration and severity".
The department said the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare was working on a project to link COVID-19 data nationally to administrative data to enable research into long COVID. The aim of this project was "to provide an evidence base for research into the medium and long-term effects".
Australian National University infectious diseases expert Peter Collignon believed the true picture, including the reinfection rate and its long-term health impact, may not be known for a long time.
Millions of dollars were now being poured into Australian research studies on the emerging issue in an effort to better understand the impact of long COVID.
These included two National Health and Medical Research Council Studies; one to assess COVID-19-induced vascular complications and the other to identify neuronal (nerve-related) uptake and transport.
Additionally, the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) has granted $3.4 million to Murdoch University to better understand of long-term impacts of COVID-19 and develop new models to predict disease progression and tailor treatment, while $1.7 million has been gifted to the University of Melbourne to investigate the effects of SARS-CoV-2 variants on the brain.
New findings from Chinese specialists in Wuhan comes as Canberra Health Services chief executive Dave Peffer warned territorians emergency departments were clogged up as health services struggled with the impact of COVID-19 on hospital spaces.
The latest respiratory medicine study on long COVID published in highly-respected medical journal The Lancet looked at nearly 2500 patients discharged from the Jinyintan hospital in Wuhan, China between January 7 and May 29, 2020.
Two years on, COVID-19 survivors still had more prevalent symptoms and more problems in pain or discomfort, "as well as anxiety or depression", the Wuhan study found.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the ACT has recorded more than 130,000 COVID cases.
Symptoms of long COVID include a shortness of breath, cardiac-pulmonary issues, reduced quality of life and increased use of the health care system after being discharged from hospital.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
