New kidney problems related to “long COVID”; loss of smell may be followed by other distortions of smell

September 3 (Reuters) – The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that justifies an additional study to corroborate the findings and has not yet been certified by the peer review.

“Long COVID” related to higher renal risks

According to a new study, COVID-19 symptoms that persist long after infection, known as “long COVID,” have been linked to an increased risk of new kidney problems. Analyzing data from more than 1.7 million U.S. veterans, including nearly 90,000 COVID-19 survivors with symptoms lasting at least 30 days, the researchers found that “long carriers” were at higher risk for new ones. kidney problems compared to people who had not been infected with coronavirus. This was true even when the survivors had not been hospitalized, although the decline in kidney function was “deeper” with a more serious infection, the American Society of Nephrology reported Wednesday. Approximately 5% of the Long COVID group developed at least a 30% drop in a critical measure of renal function known as the estimated glomerular filtration rate or eGFR. Overall, people with long-term COVID were 25% more likely than uninfected people to develop a 30% decrease in eGFR, with higher risks in survivors of more serious diseases. Although kidney function often decreases with age, the damage in these patients “was superior” to what happens with normal aging, said study co-author Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, of the University of Washington at St. Louis, in a statement. “Our findings emphasize the critical importance of paying attention to function and kidney disease in the care of patients who have had COVID-19,” he said.

Loss of smell may be followed by distortion of smell

Many people who lose their sense of smell due to COVID-19 eventually regain it, but some survivors later report olfactory distortions and unexplained odors, according to a new study. The researchers analyzed responses to surveys of 1,468 people who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 between April and September 2020 and who had suffered from loss of smell and taste at the onset of the disease. At first, about 10% also reported olfactory distortions, or parosmia, and unexplained odors, known as phantasmiasis. At an average of six to seven months after becoming ill and reporting the first loss of smell, approximately 60% of women and 48% of men had regained less than 80% of their olfactory capacity. pre-disease and rates of olfactory distortions and imaginary odors. had increased, researchers told medRxiv on Tuesday before the peer review. About 47% reported parosmia, saying, for example, that “some things now smell like chemicals.” Approximately 25% reported ghosting. “Sometimes I smell burning, but no one around me can do it,” one respondent reported. The authors said persistent olfactory problems were observed more frequently in survivors with more symptoms in general.

Vaccines induce antibodies despite cancer, immunocompromise

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines trigger protective immune responses in most cancer patients with solid tumors and in many people taking immunosuppressive drugs, two small studies suggest. In Israel, researchers found that six months after the second dose of the Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and BioNTech SE vaccine, 79% of the 154 patients with solid tumors had developed antibodies, as did 84% of 135 similar people without cancer, a difference that was not considered statistically significant. Antibody levels were similar in the two groups, researchers told Cancer Discovery on Thursday. Separately, U.S. researchers studied 133 adults taking immunosuppressive drugs for chronic inflammatory diseases and 53 healthy volunteers. Three weeks after the second shot of a Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna Inc. mRNA vaccine (MRNA.O), nearly 90% of immunosuppressed participants had developed antibodies, although many had lower responses compared to the group. control, according to a report. published Tuesday in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Antibody therapy reduces hospitalization rates

People with mild to moderate COVID-19 who were treated with a “cocktail” of monoclonal antibodies had lower hospitalization rates than similar people who did not receive treatment, researchers told EClinicalMedicine on Monday. They examined about 1,400 patients, about half of whom had received combination monoclonal antibody therapy from Regeneron Pharmaceutical Inc. Among those receiving treatment, about 45% were over 65 and many had high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, lung disease and other risk factors. Four weeks after treatment, 1.6% of them had been hospitalized, compared with 4.8% of patients not treated with monoclonal antibodies. The study was not randomized and cannot show that the treatment obtained the best results. However, “it suggests that when patients at high risk for a range of comorbidities contract a mild or moderate case of COVID-19, this combination of monoclonal injections gives them the possibility of an outpatient recovery. said Dr. Raymund, study leader. Reasonable from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in a statement.

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Nancy Lapid Reports; Edited by Bill Berkrot

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