Dr Betty Raman, St Cross Junior Research Fellow and Clinical Research Fellow at the Radcliffe Department of Medicine, has been leading the C-MORE study along with Professor Stefan Neubauer.
The C-MORE (Capturing the MultiORgan Effects of COVID-19) study aims to understand the medium-term and long-term effects of COVID-19 on the organs, and on individuals' health more generally. Although the respiratory illness primarily affects the lungs, people have gone on to experience damage to the heart, brain, liver, and kidney.
Using the University of Oxford's imaging facilities (OCMR), Dr Raman and her team have been using MRI to assess hospitalised patients and have found abnormalities on multiple organs, suggesting that persistent or chronic inflammation may be an underlying factor in the ongoing organ damage amongst survivors.
Patients discharged from hospital were found to still be experiencing breathlessness (64% of patients), fatigue (55%), anxiety, and depression for two to three months after initially contracting the virus.
Dr Raman said:
These findings underscore the need to further explore the physiological processes associated with COVID-19 and to develop a holistic, integrated model of clinical care for our patients after they have been discharged from hospital.
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