Health Authorities Conduct COVID-19 Sequelae Study on 1,000 Confirmed Cases: "Interim Results to Be Analyzed This Second Half of the Year"

Symptoms such as fatigue, dyspnea, forgetfulness, sleep disorders, and mood disorders
19.1% of COVID-19 patients visit medical institutions due to sequelae

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] The quarantine authorities are conducting a study on the aftereffects of COVID-19 involving 1,000 confirmed patients and will analyze interim results in the second half of this year.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced the future COVID-19 aftereffects research plan on the 31st. Accordingly, the National Institute of Health will conduct an aftereffects survey through a network of 14 domestic medical institutions and analyze interim results in the second half of this year. The survey targets approximately 1,000 confirmed patients, including those under 60 years old without underlying diseases, and will be conducted at 3 and 6 months after confirmation using globally standardized methods (WHO survey method).

According to previous aftereffects survey results conducted by the National Institute of Health in cooperation with domestic medical institutions such as the National Medical Center, Kyungpook National University Hospital, and Yonsei University Medical Center, COVID-19 aftereffects were confirmed in 20-79% of patients. The most common symptoms were fatigue, shortness of breath, forgetfulness, sleep disorders, and mood disorders.

Additionally, an analysis using data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service confirmed that 19.1% of COVID-19 infected patients visited medical institutions due to aftereffects. However, the patterns of aftereffects vary depending on underlying diseases, severity, hospitalization status, and survey methods, indicating the need for more detailed research.

The National Institute of Health explained, "Previous studies focused on patients with underlying diseases, severe cases, and hospitalized patients, making it difficult to determine the frequency of aftereffects in healthy adults. This study will provide more accurate frequency and patterns of aftereffects in healthy adults."

Along with this, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and the National Health Insurance Service will open COVID-19 big data to research institutions to establish scientific evidence for quarantine policies, analyze health damage caused by COVID-19, and actively develop prevention and treatment methods. The opening of COVID-19 big data will be conducted in two ways under the joint supervision of the Disease Control Agency and the National Health Insurance Service: joint research on essential quarantine policy tasks and provision of research data (DB).

The opening of COVID-19 big data targets domestic researchers at research institutions for infectious disease academic research purposes, and will undergo a separate research review process to ensure thorough de-identification and enhance data opening safety.

'Joint research on essential quarantine policy tasks' will select urgent COVID-19 issues and recruit researchers to conduct joint research with the National Health Insurance Service and the Disease Control Agency. 'Provision of research DB' will link the National Health Insurance Service’s health information with COVID-19 data and provide customized research DBs to general researchers, excluding all personally identifiable information through a de-identification process.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.