A New Phenomenon: Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome

Abstract

During the last two and half years, the world continues to face public health challenges created by the wave upon wave of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) infections in the currently ongoing pandemic (being started with the emergence of new, mutated and more transmissible strains of the COVID-19 virus). In the aftermath of the successive waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, many COVID-19 survivors have presented with what has been termed "post-acute COVID-19 syndrome" or "long-term COVID-19." There is an urgent requirement of both a universal framework for recognizing at risk patients for post-acute COVID-19 syndrome and the provision of multidisciplinary care in targeted COVID-19 outpatient facilities.

A Global Review of The Effects of Sequelae Due to Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome on Social Determinants of Health and Consequent Increase in Health Inequities Experienced by Women

“…The main link to this deepening gap of health inequities on the global women population is partially proliferating because of the below normal ability to comply with optimal social determinants of health. These include the inability of the female population to comply to prescribed COVID-19 public healthcare or social measures that mitigate viral transmission like social distancing, washing or sanitizing hands, adequate usage of face masks, having to still go to work (due to financial stress) and the forced exposure to the COVID-19 infection [3,5,6,8,17]. A rapid assessment of published literature in this field has shown the emergence of a few key themes and factors that have interlinked the disproportionate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the emerging public health issues of PACS and the effect both of these factors have had on exacerbating existing health inequities as well as access to the social determinants of health.…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has been responsible for more than 4.8 million global deaths and counting till date [1]. The global COVID-19 pandemic has been documented to have had unprecedented and severe (in some cases possibly irreversible) effects on the health status of individuals as well as significant poor impacts on the social determinants of health, particularly in susceptible population groups like the elderly and women [2][3][4]. As the COVID-19 pandemic continued to evolve on a global scale since 2020, a vast body of evidence has now validated that COVID-19 infection leads to a long-term disease course that presents far beyond the initial severe illness and recovery from infection [1][2][3][4][5].…”

“…The clinical manifestation of a host of COVID-19 sequelae in the long-term has now been known named as "post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS)" [3]. The sequelae of COVID-19 PACS ranges from the patients presenting with various systemic health issues as well as highly unpredictable somatic symptoms that remain a health problem even 6-12 months after recovery from their COVID-19 infection [3][4][5].…”

“…The clinical manifestation of a host of COVID-19 sequelae in the long-term has now been known named as "post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS)" [3]. The sequelae of COVID-19 PACS ranges from the patients presenting with various systemic health issues as well as highly unpredictable somatic symptoms that remain a health problem even 6-12 months after recovery from their COVID-19 infection [3][4][5]. These long term COVID sequelae have had a very adverse impact on the social determinants of women globally, as women have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in a variety of socio-economic contexts [5].…”