Persistent flu symptoms are more likely to be debilitating and severe than those of long Covid, a new study suggests.
Researchers at the University of Michigan found that patients hospitalized with the flu were significantly more likely to seek medical attention for certain conditions than those who were hospitalized with a Covid-19 infection.
Scientists have specifically studied treating problems related to both infections, such as migraine, movement disorders, and nerve problems.
They found that those who were hospitalized with the flu were almost twice as likely to receive treatment for a neurological disorder in 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 receive treatment for stroke or dementia.
Long Covid is a poorly defined disease and notoriously difficult to diagnose. A small number of doctors are of the controversial opinion that there is no such thing.
The graph above shows the risk of a person suffering from migraine after being hospitalized for a Covid (pink line) or flu (blue line) infection. This shows that people are at higher risk of migraine after suffering from a flu infection.
The scientists said their analysis, which included 77,000 patients, stated that 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 participated in the research, said: “Since Covid has now infected the majority of adults in the United States, this is good news that It behaves similarly to other respiratory viruses with respect to common neurological conditions.
“There was concern that the already limited access to neurological care would decrease further if we had a dramatic increase in neurological care after Covid infection.”
Covid and flu infections increase inflammation in the blood, which can damage blood vessels throughout the body, including the brain, leading to a range of complications.
Both respiratory viruses are also known to cause complications such as encephalitis – swelling of the brain – and Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease affecting the peripheral nerves.
The findings could spark controversy among some doctors skeptical about the severity of the disease, after $45 million was awarded in grants to treat long-term Covid patients.
Long Covid is a poorly defined illness that is notoriously difficult to diagnose because symptoms can easily be confused with signs of other conditions.
Patients with the syndrome complain of a wide variety of symptoms, including persistent fatigue, muscle pain and brain fog that persist for months after their Covid infection.
Studies have shown that this is much less likely to happen in those who have been vaccinated against the infection, even if they do get it.
Long flu is a similar, poorly defined illness that also affects people with a wide range of complications for weeks after their infection.
The study, published in the journal Neurologyscientists examined 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 out of ten were women and four out of ten were from a white ethnic background.
The scientists checked patients’ medical records up to a year after their hospitalization to see if they had received medical treatment for six common neurological disorders.
These included migraines, epilepsy, stroke, neuropathy, movement disorders and dementia.
After adjusting for factors such as age and gender, the results showed that patients with long-term flu were more likely to suffer from all six conditions in the year following their hospitalization.
The graph above shows the risk of a person suffering a stroke after being hospitalized for a Covid infection (pink line) or flu infection (blue line) over time.
Nearly five percent of patients with long-term flu received care for these conditions, compared to 2.79 percent of those with long-term flu.
Long-term flu patients 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 a stroke and seven percent more likely to receive treatment for dementia.
Dr Brian Callaghan, the neurologist who led the research, said: “It is important to note that our study did not look at long-term outcomes of Covid, and our results do not necessarily contradict the results of others research showing an increase in neurological symptoms in people. with a long Covid.
“While the results were not what we expected, they are reassuring as we found that being hospitalized for Covid did not lead to more care for common neurological illnesses compared to being hospitalized for flu. “