New study to track Australian survivors of COVID-19 after hospital discharge

A new study led by an ICU specialist working at the epicentre of the Victorian outbreak will help Australia prepare to meet the needs of COVID-19 patients whose serious health symptoms persist long after they have been discharged from hospital.

Professor Carol Hodgson, a researcher at Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and Senior Physiotherapist in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital, is leading a new study exploring long-term outcomes for ICU patients across 30 hospitals in Australia.  The study recently paired with the COVID-19 Critical Care Consortium (COVID Critical), a global research alliance of almost 400 hospitals in 52 countries, to help identify the COVID-19 patients most likely to require ongoing support.

Prof Hodgson’s study will follow-up Australian survivors of COVID-19 by telephone to identify ongoing symptoms, disability and need for ongoing health services. Extending this work, COVID Critical is coordinating an international follow-up study to evaluate in-person assessment of ongoing organ failure, including respiratory function, cardiac function and exercise capacity.

While most COVID-19 patients recover fully after experiencing only minor symptoms, doctors and clinical researchers are troubled by the growing number of patients who report an array of persistent health problems, preventing them from returning to their normal lives.

Prof Hodgson said many patients who had been admitted to hospital during the latest Victorian outbreak were likely to require significant rehabilitation and other healthcare services before they could return to work or return to their usual activities.

“Families need to be prepared for this, but so do our governments, our employers and our healthcare providers,” Prof Hodgson warned. “There is so much still to learn about how COVID-19 affects the body, and how best to treat it – and those challenges certainly don’t stop when a patient leaves hospital.

“Long after this latest wave passes, there will be people who are going to need support and we need to start planning for that now.” While almost all patients who spend time in intensive care face long recovery periods, Prof Hodgson said critically ill COVID-19 patients have typically stayed in ICU longer, spent more time on mechanical ventilation and have been isolated from friends and family. Their rehabilitation has been more difficult in the hospital as a result of minimising staff exposed to COVID-19 positive patients to reduce the risk to healthcare workers.

“All of these factors can have a negative impact on someone’s physical and psychological recovery,” Prof Hodgson said. “Follow-up of these patients after hospital discharge may need to include screening for physical problems, as well as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress. It’s vital that we learn more about how patients who have been critically ill with COVID progress over time, so that we can make sure they get the best care to aid their recovery.”

The COVID-19 Critical Care Consortium, led by a team based at Brisbane’s Prince Charles Hospital, is supporting similar long term studies in South Africa, USA, Ireland, Japan, Spain, Italy and Argentina. “Our aim is to build an international database of de-identified patient information that researchers can access to learn quickly about this disease and what works and doesn’t work in treatment,” COVID Critical chief investigator Jacky Suen said. “The potential is huge, but many researchers still need money to support their work.”

Published with permission from:

Christine Jackman

T: 0401 052 390
E: Christine.Jackman@tpchfoundation.org.au
W: www.covid-critical.com