Researchers analyzed data from more than 70,000 individuals living with COVID-19 in the United States to confirm the most common complications.
Some people—about 1 in 6—will have complications of covid-19, some of which are life-threatening. A disease known as a cytokine storm can cause many complications of covid-19. This is when an infection induces the immune system to flood your body with inflammatory proteins called cytokines. They can destroy tissue and damage your organs, including your lungs, heart, and kidneys.
The complications of COVID-19 can include the following:
1. Acute Respiratory Failure
If you have acute respiratory failure, your lungs may not pump enough oxygen into your blood. Or you may not take enough carbon dioxide out of your body. At the same time, all of these problems will arise.
Acute respiratory failure was the leading cause of death in a study of 68 Chinese people who died of COVID-19.
2. Pneumonia: A common complication of COVID-19
An increase in cases of pneumonia was the first sign of a new coronavirus in China. If you have pneumonia, the airbags in your lungs become inflamed, making it difficult to breathe.
Scientists who analyzed images of very sick COVID-19 patients find that their lungs were full of fluid, pus, and cell debris. In those cases, the patients’ bodies could not transfer oxygen to the blood.
3. Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome (ARDS)
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was one of China’s most frequent complications of covid-19.
With ARDS, the lungs are so badly damaged that the fluid continues to leak into them. As a result, the body can’t bring oxygen into the body. You may need mechanical help breathing—such as a ventilator—until the lungs heal.
4. Acute Liver Injury
Data shows that the most severely ill patients are at the highest risk of liver damage. Scientists are not yet sure if the infection is toxic to the liver or if it happens for another cause.
Acute liver disease and failure of the liver are life-threatening complications of covid-19. (‘Acute’ means that it happens suddenly.)
5. Acute Cardiac Injury
Studies have shown that some have developed heart issues, including arrhythmias. Researchers found that people who became very ill with COVID-19 and treated in a hospital have high heart disease levels. The infection itself may have infected patients’ hearts. Or maybe the damage has happened simply because the disease has caused more stress on their bodies.
COVID-19 can also cause heart problems that last even after people have recovered from coronavirus infection. But since the disease is so new, it’s not clear yet.
6. Secondary Infection
A secondary infection means that you have an infection that has no link to the first problem. In this case, it means that someone with COVID-19 is infected with something else.
An analysis of several studies conducted so far in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 showed that secondary infection is possible. But it is not a common complication. Sometimes a person who fights, or recovers from, a virus is infected with bacteria. Strep and staph are common offenders. This could be serious enough to increase the risk of death.
7. Acute Kidney Injury: Not a complication of COVID-19 but have significant impact
This doesn’t seem to be a common complication, but it’s serious if it happens. If your kidneys are working properly, your doctors will start treatment to stop the damage. You may get dialysis (in which the system filters your blood) until your kidneys get back to functioning normally. Sometimes, the injury doesn’t heal, and people have chronic kidney failure, which you have to treat in the long term.
8. Septic shock
Sepsis happens when the body’s response to an infection fails. Chemicals released into the bloodstream to fight the disease do not cause the right response, and instead, your organs are damaged. If the process doesn’t stop, you can get into what’s called a septic shock. If the blood pressure drops so high, the septic shock can be fatal.
Some COVID-19 people in China were affected by septic shock.
9. Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation
When you have distributed intravascular coagulation or DIC, the body’s blood clotting response is not functioning properly. Abnormal clots form, which may lead to internal bleeding or failure of the heart.
In one research of Chinese patients with COVID-19, DIC was widespread among those who died.
10. Blood Clots
A disease called disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) causes the body’s blood clotting response to work differently than it should. Abnormal clots form, which may lead to internal bleeding or failure of the organ.
A Dutch study showed that about a third of the patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) had blood clots. Some of them were in patients’ legs (deep vein thrombosis or DVT), lungs (pulmonary embolism or PE), or arteries. Yet none of the patients had DIC.
Some researchers say coronavirus can induce a new clotting disorder, COVID-19-associated coagulopathy (CAC).
11. Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children
Some children and teenagers have a multisystem inflammatory syndrome disorder in children (MIS-C) or Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PMIS). Doctors are still learning about this, although they believe it’s related to the new coronavirus. Symptoms include fever, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, acne, fatigue, and confusion. They are similar to those in traumatic shock syndrome or Kawasaki disease, which causes inflamed blood vessels in infants.
12. Chronic Fatigue
Some patients who had COVID-19 experienced a condition similar to chronic fatigue syndrome. They may have brain fog, severe fatigue, discomfort, difficulty thinking, or dizziness.
13. Rhabdomyolysis
This is an extremely rare condition, but one of the COVID-19 researchers is observing. Your muscles break down, and your tissue dies in rhabdomyolysis. When cells break apart, the bloodstream is flooded with a protein called myoglobin. If your kidneys cannot filter it out of your blood quickly enough, it will overwhelm them and cause death.
The more common complications of covid-19
The analysis confirmed that many of the disorders previously described were among the most common complications of covid-19.
The conditions most strongly linked with COVID-19 are including:
- Conditions of the circulatory system, such as Cardiac arrest, Acute myocarditis
- Hematological conditions, such as disseminated intravascular coagulation;
- Renal problems, such as acute kidney failure
- Smell and taste disturbances
The highest-risk conditions (the most common complications of covid-19) are:
- Pneumonia, which accounted for around 27.6% of all and 81% of the ICU people
- Respiratory failure, which accounted for around 22.6% of all and 75.3% of ICU patients
- Acute kidney failure, which accounted for around 11.8% of all and 50.7% of ICU patients
- Other sepsis, which accounted for around 10.4% of all and 54.1% of the ICU people
The greatest risk and highly associated complications of covid-19 involved in viral pneumonia, respiratory failure, sepsis, acute renal failure, and ARDS.
The Bottom Line
There is also a chance of death when the disease is severe. This is often due to secondary bacterial infection and other causes. To date, coronavirus has been fatal in 2-3% of people with COVID-19 disease worldwide. The data is according to the number of confirmed cases and deaths.
Contact the health department for the latest up-to-date reports on COVID-19 incidents in your state and county.
