The paper disclosed the results of an intensive follow-up study of 1,733 patients discharged from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital between Jan. 7 and May 29, 2020, and completed between June and September of that year. The paper found that more than three-quarters of COVID-19 patients reported at least one symptom, such as fatigue or muscle weakness, six months after onset.
The Lancet editorial board's statement of concern, above, said the Lancet editorial board was informed on Nov. 7, 2022, after inquiring with the corresponding authors, that "a number of variables in the dataset were incorrectly out of order" used in the paper in question. "Given the extent of these data errors, we are now issuing a statement of concern about the '6 months' paper, and will also be investigating further, including further statistical and clinical review of the corrected data."
Statement of concern issued by the editorial board of the international medical journal The Lancet on November 24, 2022
The paper in question, titled "Six-month clinical outcomes in patients discharged from hospital with neocoronary arthritis: a cohort study," was published online on January 8, 2021, in The Lancet.
The paper is labeled with equal contributions from Bin Cao, Dingyu Zhang, and Jianwei Wang. Bin Cao is the corresponding author labeled in the paper.
Cao Bin's credits include China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, National Clinical Medical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases, and National Center for Respiratory Medicine.
An information posted on the relevant webpage of China-Japan Friendship Hospital on Jan. 11, 2021, said the said study was completed by Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, the Respiratory Center of China-Japan Friendship Hospital, the National Respiratory Medical Center, and the Institute of Pathogenic Biology of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences*** together. Huang Chaolin, Huang Lixue, Wang Yeming, Li Xia, Ren Lili, Gu Xiaoying, Kang Liang, Guo Li, and Liu Min were ****co-first authors. The study evaluated the impact of COVID-19 on long-term patient outcomes. "The study found that 76% of patients still had at least one persistent symptom 6 months after onset. Fatigue and muscle weakness were the most common symptoms, and sleep disturbances, anxiety, and depression were also frequent."
"Professor Bin Cao of the National Center for Respiratory Medicine, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, and Capital Medical University said, 'Because COVID-19 is a newly emerging disease, we are just beginning to understand its long-term impact on patients' health. Our follow-up study suggests that most patients will continue to be at least partially affected by the virus even after discharge from the hospital, and that post-discharge medical care is essential, especially for patients who are sicker at the time of hospitalization. Our study also suggests the importance of longer-term follow-up studies in larger populations to understand the full impact the disease may have on the body.' This follow-up study was completed between June 16 and September 3, 2020 and enrolled 1,733 patients who were discharged from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital between January 7 and May 29, 2020. The median age of the patients was 57 years old, and the median follow-up time was 186 days after the onset of the disease." China-Japan Friendship Hospital related web page said above information.
The Lancet editorial board is concerned about the article targeted by the statement. The paper said that follow-up found that 76 percent of patients with new crown pneumonia had at least one persistent symptom 6 months after onset of the disease
The named authors of the above paper are ChaolinHuang, LixueHuang, YemingWang, XiaLi, LiliRen, XiaoyingGu, LiangKang, LiGuo LianhanShang, GuilinHuang, LixueHuang, YemingWang, XiaLi, LiliRen, XiaoyingGu, LiangKang, LiGuo, MinLiu, XingZhou, JianfengLuo, ZhenghuiHuang, ShengjinTu, YueZhao, LiChen, DecuiXu, YanpingLi, CaihongLi, LuPeng, YongLi, WuxiangXie, DanCui, LianhanShang, GuohuiFan, JiuyangXu, GengWang, YingWang, JingchuanZhong, ChenWang, JianweiWang, DingyuZhang, BinCao.
What are the long-term symptoms of a new crown?
About a month before the publication of the above paper, in December 2020, the international medical journal The Lancet published an editorial stating, "Facing the New Crown Long-Term Symptoms Dilemma," and stating that, in late November 2020, at the 2020 "Lancet-Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Medicine and Health Conference" in late November 2020, "Cao Bin presented on the long-term outcomes of COVID-19 patients in Wuhan and warned that dysfunction and complications may persist for at least 6 months in some discharged patients. We call this 'new crown long-term symptoms,' and it's a rapidly evolving medical problem and one that requires action now to address."
Seven months after the publication of the paper in question, in August 2021, Cao Bin, Wang Jianwei, and others published in The Lancet the results of a one-year follow-up study of 1,276 patients previously discharged from Wuhan's Jinyintan Hospital. They found that "the proportion of patients who also had at least one sequela symptom decreased from 68% at 6 months to 49% at 12 months."
The paper is titled "1-year clinical outcomes in hospitalized survivors of neocoronary pneumonia: a longitudinal cohort study".
Results of a study of 1,276 patients discharged from the hospital with neocoronary pneumonia followed for one year
But the paper was corrected after it was first published. Its corrected version was first published on May 5, 2022, on The Lancet website.
It's worth noting that the "6-month paper" mentions that the proportion of survivors reporting at least one symptom six months after the onset of C.N.C.P. was 76%. However, the "1 year paper" mentioned above mentioned a relevant percentage of 68%. The Lancet has not yet disclosed whether the "data inconsistency" referred to in its statement of concern is that percentage.
The Lancet editorial board's November 24, 2022, statement of concern above said, "After receiving a query from a researcher about data inconsistencies between the two articles, we sought an explanation from the corresponding authors of the two articles."
The Lancet editorial board was informed on November 7, 2022, that the inconsistency between the '6 months' and '1 year' data was due to 'some variables in the dataset used for the 6-month paper being incorrectly out of order'. Given the extent of these data errors, we are now issuing a statement of concern about the '6 month' paper and will also investigate further, including further statistical and clinical review of the corrected data. We will update this notice as soon as more information becomes available."
In addition, on May 11, 2022, Cao Bin and Wang Jianwei published a paper online in the international academic journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine as ***synchronous corresponding authors, reporting the results of a study of 1,192 patients discharged from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital with neocoronaryngitis who were followed up for two years.
From Jan. 7 to May 29, 2020, 2,469 patients with new crown pneumonia were discharged from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, the paper said. Of those, 1,192 completed assessments at three follow-up visits and were included in the final analysis; 94 percent, 1,119, participated in a face-to-face interview two years after infection. Overall, the health status of patients recovering from New Crown was still worse than the general population at two years after their first infection, meaning that some patients took longer to fully recover. "The proportion of New Crown pneumonia survivors who also had at least one sequela symptom declined significantly from 68% at 6 months to 55% at 2 years, with fatigue or muscle weakness being the most common symptoms."
The paper was titled "2-year health outcomes among hospitalized survivors of new crown pneumonia: a longitudinal cohort study. The study was reported in the media as "the longest follow-up of new crowns worldwide."
Results of a study of 1,192 patients discharged from hospital with new crown pneumonia followed for 2 years
In addition, an observational study of more than 70,000 people in 302 hospitals in the United Kingdom, published in the journal on July 17, 2021, found that one in two COVID-19 hospitalized patients will develop at least one complication, according to a release from The Lancet microfilm. "In a related commentary, Prof. Bin Cao and Xiaoying Gu from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital wrote: 'Considering the large number of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients worldwide, the public **** health impact of the post-acute phase of COVID-19 is enormous. In addition to analyzing the multiple manifestations of the entire spectrum of clinical disease in the post-acute phase of COVID-19, further studies in populations with diverse demographic and clinical characteristics are needed to elucidate the pathophysiological mechanisms of post-acute COVID-19, especially distant COVID-19. In addition, there is a need to study the serologic characteristics and the effects of immune abnormalities and inflammatory damage due to acute SARS-CoV-2 infection on post-acute or long-term COVID-19.'"
The official website of China-Japan Friendship Hospital shows that Cao Bin, chief physician, professor, doctoral supervisor, professional specialty is diagnosis and treatment of respiratory infections; currently vice president of China-Japan Friendship Hospital, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Division II, director of the management committee of the Institute of Clinical Medicine, executive deputy director of the National Center for Respiratory Medicine, deputy director of the Respiratory Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; as the "International Influenza Research Institute," he is the director of the National Center for Respiratory Medicine. Director of the National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Deputy Director of the Institute of Respiratory Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; Member of the International Society for Influenza and Respiratory Virus Infections, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Respiratory Journal, Editorial Steering Committee of International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Member of the Chinese Medical Journal, Editorial Steering Committee of Chinese Medical Journal. He is also an associate editor of Clinical Respiratory Journal, editorial director of International Journal of Infectious Diseases, and a member of the corresponding editorial boards of Chinese Medical Journal and Chinese Journal of Tuberculosis and Respiratory.
The official website of Peking Union Medical College of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (PUMC) shows that Wang Jianwei, researcher, professor, doctoral supervisor; from February 2006 to the present, he has served as an associate researcher, researcher, professor, doctoral supervisor of the Institute of Pathobiology of Peking Union Medical College of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (PUMC), director of the laboratory of Christopher_Mérieux, assistant to the director, deputy director, and head of the scientific and technological management department of the institution. In June 2019, he became vice president of the institution and a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee.
The above information said, Wang Jianwei is mainly engaged in important respiratory viral infections pathogenic mechanism and prevention and control of research, has been supported by a number of talent program projects, the Department of "AIDS and viral hepatitis and other major infectious diseases prevention and treatment of" science and technology major special group, "biosafety key technology" key special group of experts. He is a member of the overall group of the major scientific and technological project "Prevention and Control of Major Infectious Diseases such as AIDS and Viral Hepatitis", and a member of the expert group of the "Bio-safety Key Technology Research and Development" key special project.