In the 18 months after a serious COVID-19 or seasonal influenza infection, patients are at a significant increased risk of death, hospital readmission, or health problems affecting a number of organs, though COVID patients are hit harder, according to a study published yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The study was led by Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, the chief of research and development at the VA St. Louis Health Care System and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University. Al-Aly has been studying long COVID for the past 3 years, and has been interested in studying the differences between the acute and chronic phases of the disease.