Listen Live

(INDIANAPOLIS) — Recovery from coronavirus may not end when the infection does.

25-to-40% of people who go on a ventilator get what’s known as post-intensive care syndrome, with

shortness of breath, fatigue, memory problems, and chronic pain. IU Health has three research studies in progress to assess whether coronavirus survivors’ longterm effects are different or more severe compared to other ICU survivors.

IU set up a survivors’ clinic at Methodist Hospital last month to help them recover. IU lung specialist

Sikhandar Khan says the clinic has seen 10 post-COVID patients so far, with multidisciplinary care from doctors and nurses, occupational and physical therapists, pharmacists and chaplains.

Khan says researchers are also studying whether those aftereffects occur in coronavirus patients whose infections weren’t severe enough to send them to intensive care. He says he’s seen patients in his lung practice who are still experiencing shortness of breath and anxiety.

There have been reports elsewhere of coronavirus patients with lingering issues in other organs, including the heart, kidneys, pancreas and nervous system.