Long-Term Illness in Adults Hospitalized for Respiratory Syncytial Virus Disease, 2025, Leis et al.

Chandelier

Chandelier

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
wwwnc.cdc.gov

Long-Term Illness in Adults Hospitalized for Respiratory Syncytial Virus Disease, United States, February 2022–September 2023

Respiratory Syncytial Virus Disease, United States
wwwnc.cdc.gov wwwnc.cdc.gov

Aleda M. Leis , Kelsey N. Womack, Courtney Maxcy, Ellen Caldwell, Caroline Cheng, Sydney A. Cornelison, Diya Surie, Fatimah S. Dawood, Sharon Saydah, Manjusha Gaglani, Cristie Columbus, Abhijit Duggal, Laurence W. Busse, Laurynn M. Giles, Ivana A. Vaughn, Ithan D. Peltan, David N. Hager, Amira Mohamed, Matthew C. Exline, Akram Khan, Jennifer G. Wilson, Jarrod S. Mosier, Steven Y. Chang, Adit A. Ginde, Nicholas M. Mohr, Christopher Mallow, Estelle S. Harris, Nicholas J. Johnson, Kevin W. Gibbs, Jennie H. Kwon, Basmah Safdar, Emily T. Martin, Wesley H. Self, Catherine L. Hough, Jin H. Han

Abstract​

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause severe illness, but little is known about long-term consequences in hospitalized adults.
We surveyed adults (>18 years of age) who survived hospitalization for RSV or COVID-19 during February 2022–September 2023 about physical functioning and quality of life; surveys were conducted 6–12 months after hospitalization.
We compared outcomes after RSV hospitalization by age (<60 vs. >60 years) and to those hospitalized for COVID-19 by using multivariable regression models.

Among 146 adults hospitalized with RSV, 27.4% reported severe breathlessness and 21.9% poor quality of life at follow-up. Few differences were seen in posthospital illness by age. After adjustment, participants with RSV had 1.81 (95% CI 1.08–3.04) times increased odds of worse dyspnea than did those with COVID-19.
Participants reported functional and quality of life impairments after RSV hospitalization, regardless of age, and a postdischarge sequelae constellation similar to that for those hospitalized for COVID-19.
 
Last edited:

What were the most surprising or significant findings about the physical and mental health of RSV survivors six to 12 months after hospitalization?​

Overall, we found that many patients hospitalized with RSV had poor physical functioning, functional impairment and persistent symptoms including shortness of breath six to 12 months after their hospitalization — regardless of age.

One of our most surprising findings was that many patients hospitalized with RSV were younger than 60 years old. RSV is generally thought to cause severe illness primarily in very young children and older adults, but our study shows that younger adults can also experience serious RSV infections requiring hospitalization.

Interestingly, we found very few significant differences in our long-term outcomes between those respondents younger than 60 and those 60 years and older. One of our biggest findings was that older adults had higher odds of losing at least one independent activity of daily living compared to before their illness than those under 60.

On the other hand, we found that younger adults had higher odds of more significant sleep disturbances compared to older adults. We're hoping to dig more into the causes of some of these effects in future research.

How did the long-term effects of RSV compare to those seen in adults hospitalized for COVID-19? Are there important similarities or differences?​

We found that those hospitalized with RSV reported similar outcomes to those hospitalized with COVID-19. In both situations, there was moderately low physical functioning and quality of life.

The notable exception is dyspnea, or shortness of breath. Those with RSV had almost two times higher odds of more severe dyspnea six to 12 months after their hospitalization than those with COVID-19.

What do you want people to take away from this work?​

We hope the takeaway from our study is that long-term effects can happen after respiratory illnesses other than COVID-19, too. For those with RSV, these long-term effects appeared similar to those after COVID-19, and younger adults with RSV had similar long-term outcomes to older adults.

We hope that this study can help provide more information about the risks of RSV in adults beyond the acute infection phase and the potential benefits of RSV prevention such as vaccination.
 
The paper said:
We hope the takeaway from our study is that long-term effects can happen after respiratory illnesses other than COVID-19, too.
Click to expand...
Uh, yeah, millions of people have been telling this to the medical profession for over a century and there is a huge literature on it, including how it's considered very controversial for no valid reason. But it could be deconditioning and low mood, might want to check this out for the 1000-2000th time just to be sure. Should be good for thousands of papers.

It's so weird how this problem can shift from "this is rare, and therefore doesn't need to be considered" to "this is common, and therefore doesn't need to be considered" with zero thoughts in-between. It just never needs to be considered at all. Millions of sick people with negative support are clearly no one's problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom