About one in nine Canadian adults experienced long-term symptoms after contracting COVID-19, according to a new report from Statistics Canada.
This represents 3.5 million Canadians, we learn in the federal agency’s report which was published Friday.
Nearly 80% of people who have long-term symptoms of COVID-19 have had them for six months or more, the report said, including 42% for a year or more.
The consequences are “significant” not only for the affected patients, but also for the entire country, underlined in an interview the assistant professor of medicine at McMaster University, Manali Mukherjee, who specializes in respiratory diseases and immunology.
“(These patients) see their daily productivity reduced. Their quality of life is therefore affected, which has a direct effect on the socio-economic situation in Canada,” explained the DD Mukherjee, who has been researching COVID-19 for a long time and herself experienced symptoms of infection for 18 months.
Long COVID is defined by the World Health Organization as symptoms that persist for three months or more after infection and cannot be explained in any other way.
More than half of people who have already had long-term symptoms of COVID-19 were still showing them last June, according to the Statistics Canada report.
“Among those who continued to experience symptoms in June 2023, about 7 in 10 reported feeling them every day or almost every day, when they were at their peak, and about 1 in 5 (21.7 %) reported having often or always been limited by them in their daily activities,” added the federal agency.
“Overall, half (49.7%) of people whose symptoms were persistent reported no improvement over time. »
Statistics Canada’s findings are not surprising, in the opinion of the DD Mukherjee.
“Long COVID is very real,” she recalled.
The most common symptoms of long COVID are headache, fatigue and shortness of breath, she said.
Research has shown that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 reduces the risk of experiencing long-term symptoms. Vaccination also helps reduce the severity of symptoms, according to the DD Mukherjee.
Two-thirds of Canadian adults who tried to seek health care services for long-term symptoms related to COVID-19 reported not receiving adequate treatment, services or support, we read. in the Statistics Canada report.
Researchers, doctors and health agencies across the country, in collaboration with affected patients, are trying to correct this situation through a vast knowledge-sharing network called Long COVID Web, said Ms.me Mukherjee.
“We are all working to try to understand […] the different biomarkers which explain this persistence (of symptoms) […] and to find a way to treat them specifically using targeted treatments,” she assured.
” There is always hope. »
Statistics Canada prepared its report using data from the Canadian COVID-19 Antibody and Health Survey Follow-up Questionnaire, 2023.