Findings include a new long-term Covid scoring system to help clinicians and researchers better define it and study how patients are treated.
Posted Date – Friday, 5/26/23 at 12:46pm
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New York: A team of US researchers has identified 12 cardinal symptoms of Long Covid disease — symptoms that persist for more than 30 days after contracting Covid-19.
With more than 650 million people infected with SARS-CoV-2 worldwide, chronic Covid represents a major public health concern that affects quality of life, income, and healthcare costs.
To better understand the prevalence and severity of symptoms, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the Coronavirus Research for Recovery (RECOVER-Adult).
The study, published online in JAMA, examined 37 symptoms across multiple body parts and organs.
Researchers identified 12 symptoms that best distinguish chronic infection from non-persistent infection: Post-exertion discomfort (even mild physical or mental exertion can make symptoms worse), fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, gastrointestinal symptoms, palpitations , problems with libido or performance, loss of smell or taste, thirst, chronic cough, chest pain, and unusual movements.
Findings include a new long-term Covid scoring system to help clinicians and researchers better define it and study how patients are treated.
“Now that we can identify patients with long-term Covid, we can start digging deeper to understand the biological mechanisms involved “.
“One of the big takeaways from this study is the heterogeneity of long-term Covid: long-term Covid is not just a syndrome; it’s a syndrome of syndromes. Understanding this idea is very important for doing more research and ultimately implementing informed interventions step,” she added.
The study will begin enrolling participants in October 2021. The researchers analyzed symptom survey results from 85 hospitals, health centers and community-based organizations located in 33 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.
More than 9,500 people completed the survey, including uninfected adults as well as individuals six months after becoming infected with Covid-19. The survey was developed in collaboration with clinicians and patient advocates and includes 37 different symptoms and corresponding measures of severity.
The results also suggest that reinfection, pre-infection with the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant, and lack of vaccination are associated with higher frequency and severity of long-term Covid, but the authors emphasize the need for ongoing research.
