The long-lasting symptoms of flu are likely to be debilitating and more severe than those of long-term Covid, a new study suggests.
Researchers from the University of Michigan found that patients hospitalized for influenza were much more likely to seek medical care for certain conditions than those hospitalized for a Covid-19 infection.
Scientists specifically looked at treating problems associated with both infections, such as migraines, movement disorders and nerve problems.
They found that those hospitalized for flu were almost twice as likely to receive treatment for a neurological condition the following year, compared to their Covid patient counterparts.
For example, the flu group was 44 percent more likely to seek treatment for nerve pain, and 35 percent more likely to need help for persistent migraines.
They were also up to ten percent more likely to be treated for a stroke or dementia.
Long Covid is an ill-defined disease that is notoriously difficult to diagnose. A small number of doctors believe that this does not exist
The graph above shows the risk of someone developing a migraine after being admitted to hospital due to an infection with Covid (pink line) or flu (blue line). It shows that people were at greater risk of migraines after a flu infection
The scientists said their analysis, which involved 77,000 patients, said their findings were ‘reassuring’ because it showed that Covid was not more likely cause complications than other diseases.
Dr. Adam de Havenon, a neurologist at Yale University, Connecticut, who was involved in the study, said: ‘Given that Covid has now infected the majority of adults in the US, it is good news that it is behaving in the same way. as other respiratory viruses related to common neurological disorders.
‘There was concern that the already limited access to neurological care would shrink further if we had a dramatic increase in neurological care post-Covid.’
Both Covid and influenza infections cause inflammation in the blood, which can damage blood vessels throughout the body, including the brain – leading to a range of complications.
The two respiratory viruses are also known to cause complications such as encephalitis – swelling of the brain – and Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disease that affects the peripheral nerves.
The results could spark controversy among some doctors skeptical about the severity of the condition, after $45 million in grants were awarded to treat long Covid patients.
Long Covid is an ill-defined disease that is notoriously difficult to diagnose as symptoms can easily be mistaken for signs of other conditions.
Patients with the syndrome complain of a wide range of symptoms, including persistent fatigue, muscle pain and brain fog, that last for months after their Covid infection.
Research has shown that this is much less likely to occur in those who have been vaccinated against the infection, even if they do contract the infection.
Long flu is a similarly ill-defined condition, also involving people who suffer from a wide range of complications for weeks after their infection.
The study, published in the journal Neurologyscientists reviewed the medical records of 77,200 people hospitalized with Covid between March 2020 and November 2021, as well as a group of patients hospitalized with flu before 2020.
The patients were on average 51 years old, six in ten were women and four in ten were from a white ethnic background.
Scientists checked patients’ medical records for up to a year after their hospitalization to see if they had received medical treatment for six common neurological conditions.
These were migraine, epilepsy, stroke, neuropathy, movement disorders and dementia.
After adjusting for factors such as age and gender, the results showed that long-term flu patients were more likely to suffer from all six conditions in the year after their hospital admission.
The graph above shows the risk of someone having a stroke over time after being admitted to hospital for a Covid infection (pink line) or a flu infection (blue line).
Nearly five percent of patients with long-term flu received care for the condition, compared to 2.79 percent of those with long-term flu.
Patients with long-term flu were also 36 percent more likely to receive treatment for a movement disorder, 22 percent more likely to receive treatment for epilepsy, 10 percent more likely to receive treatment for stroke and seven percent more likely to receive treatment for dementia.
Dr. Brian Callaghan, the neurologist who led the study, said: ‘It is important to note that our study did not look at long Covid outcomes, and our results do not necessarily contradict findings from other research showing an increase of neurological symptoms in humans. with long Covid.
‘Although the results were not what we expected, they are reassuring as we found that hospital admission with Covid did not lead to increased care for common neurological conditions compared to hospital admission with flu.’
