Steroids can cut death rates by over 50 per cent in patients hospitalised with long COVID-19 upon discharge, a new study has found.
University of Florida researchers went through the health records of over 1200 adults hospitalised with the virus in the last two years.
They found patients with the “highest levels of an inflammation marker” also had the highest risk of dying within a year of being discharged.
The common lasting symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, joint pain and chest pain, according to scientists.
But the silver lining, as published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, was that prescribing steroids cut the risk of dying by 51 per cent.
Clinics for long COVID-19 patients have already opened around Australia.
Another study published in The Lancet this week by Chinese researchers found long COVID-19’s ravaging effects on the body can last two years after being discharged.
(AAP)