News briefs

Long COVID symptoms in one‐third of people with COVID‐19

A survey of patients previously diagnosed with COVID‐19 found that lingering symptoms 7 months after infection were common among otherwise healthy young people in the outpatient setting. The findings were published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers from the Geneva University Hospitals surveyed 629 participants who were a part of Geneva’s CoviCare program from 18 March to 15 May 2020 using semi‐structured telephone interviews at enrolment and 30–45 days and 7–9 months from diagnosis to characterise long term symptoms after COVID‐19 infection. Of the 410 patients who completed follow‐up at 7–9 months after diagnosis, 39.0% reported residual symptoms. These symptoms included fatigue (20.7%), loss of taste or smell (16.8%), shortness of breath (11.7%), and headache (10.0%). Based on these findings and findings from similar studies, the authors suggested that people treated on an outpatient basis for mild to moderate COVID‐19 should be informed about the potential for long term effects, and physicians should continue to monitor them. To avoid misinterpretation, physicians should also be aware of other causes of such symptoms as fatigue, cognitive and neurologic symptoms, and shortness of breath.

https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M21-0878

Lack of light may raise risk of bowel cancer

Inadequate exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) light from the sun may be associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer, particularly in older age groups, according to a study using data on 186 countries, published in BMC Public Health. Researchers at the University of California San Diego investigated possible associations between global levels of UVB light in 2017 and rates of colorectal cancer for different countries and age groups in 2018. They used UVB estimates obtained by the NASA EOS Aura spacecraft in April 2017 and data on colorectal cancer rates in 2018 for 186 countries from the Global Cancer (GLOBOCAN) database. They also collected data from previous literature and databases for 148 countries on skin pigmentation, life expectancy, smoking, stratospheric ozone and other factors which may influence health and UVB exposure. Countries with lower UVB included Norway, Denmark and Canada, while countries with higher UVB included United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Nigeria, and India. The researchers found that lower UVB exposure was significantly correlated with higher rates of colorectal cancer across all age groups from 0 to over 75 years. The association between lower UVB and risk of colorectal cancer remained significant for those aged above 45 years after other factors, such as skin pigmentation, life expectancy and smoking, were taken into consideration. The authors suggested that lower UVB exposure may reduce levels of vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency has previously been associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer.

https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-11089-w