Within two months of leaving the hospital, nearly 7% of the patients in the study had died, including more than 10% of the patients treated in an intensive care unit. Fifteen percent had ended up back in the hospital.

The data come from more than 1,250 patients treated in 38 hospitals across Michigan this spring and summer, when the state was one of the earliest to experience a peak in cases.

When researchers interviewed 488 of the surviving patients by phone, around 60 days after their hospitalization, they heard a litany of health and life woes. The findings appear in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“These data suggest that the burden of COVID-19 extends far beyond the hospital and far beyond health,” says lead author Vineet Chopra, chief of hospital medicine at Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan’s academic medical center. “The mental, financial, and physical tolls of this disease among survivors appear substantial.”

LASTING EFFECTS FOR COVID-19 PATIENTS
More than 39% of the patients interviewed said they hadn’t gotten back to normal activities yet, two months after leaving the hospital. Twelve percent of the patients said they couldn’t carry out basic care for themselves anymore, or as well as before.

Read the full article about COVID's impact on health and finances by Kara Gavin at Futurity.