Currently, the Tourcoing hospital center is coordinating a study on "Covid long". The aim is to try to identify the causes of the persistence of coronavirus symptoms in certain patients over time. What do you need to know about this study?
At the end of September 2020, we mentioned a study carried out by St James's Hospital in Dublin (Ireland). This research showed that more than half of the patients and staff at this facility suffered from persistent fatigue after their recovery. The doctors then recalled that the medium and long-term consequences of the "long Covid" were still very little known.
However, as L'Express explains in an article of December 4, 2020, the Tourcoing hospital center is coordinating a study on the subject. Called Cocolate, it is gradually being set up by welcoming its first patients. The objective is to identify the causes of the persistence of symptoms in some patients, sometimes several months after the illness.
Dr. Olivier Robineau, from the infectious diseases department of CH Dron, indicated that this research would gradually be extended to around twenty hospitals to allow the monitoring of 'a thousand patients . Regarding the volunteers, these are individuals who have not contracted a very severe form of the coronavirus and have not been the subject of intensive care.
The persistent symptoms are rather numerous:feeling of mental slowdown, fatigue, shortness of breath or even trouble concentrating. Other patients also suffer from joint or chest pain and headaches. The objective of the Cocolate study is none other than to define the symptoms that it would really be possible to associate with long Covid. Indeed, the symptoms mentioned here are not very specific and there is not yet a medical definition in the absence of reliable epidemiological data.
You should know that the hypotheses concerning the long Covid also spill over into the psychological field. It may indeed be a question of stress due to the epidemic , but it could also be generally the persistence of an inflammatory reaction or the virus itself. Dr. Olivier Robineau also mentions that "for the moment, we have the impression that the people who consult are more women, but we are not yet sure ". Remember, however, that the Irish study also mentioned this gap between women and men.
"All we want is to be able to say that the Covid, in 90% of cases, stops in less than 3 weeks-a month and that in some people it will last six months or a year, but after that people will be fine “, concluded the specialist.
