Lodi News

New study offers fresh clues to long COVID

Rong-Gong Lin II and Luke Money

LOS ANGELES — One in 10 people infected with the coronavirus during the omicron era suffered from long COVID, according to preliminary data from a new study — indicating the syndrome remains a notable threat even in the pandemic’s post-emergency phase.

The initial finding, published May 25 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was based on 2,231 patients who had their first coronavirus infection on or after Dec. 1, 2021, when the omicron strain started to dominate the nation.

Of them, data indicate that 224 patients, or 10%, were classified as having long COVID six months after their acute infection. The categorization was made after scientists developed their own data-based definition of the syndrome, based on a number of symptoms that were more likely to be seen in patients with a prior coronavirus infection.

The effort, scientists said, was an important step toward better defining long COVID, which can be hard to pinpoint because it can’t be easily diagnosed or tested for — unlike, say, a heart attack.

“It’s trying to help all of us — both patients and doctors — figure out: How do we tell if someone has long COVID?” said Dr. Joann Elmore, a professor of medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, who wasn’t affiliated with the study.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. The agency said in a statement that the results “are based on a survey of a highly diverse set of patients and are not final. Survey results will next be compared for accuracy against an array of lab tests and imaging.”

The findings, if later substantiated by further research, would add weight to the idea that long COVID represents “a major clinical and public health concern,” as the syndrome was characterized by the study’s authors.

“This is a substantial morbidity,” Elmore said.

And unfortunately, it is still often difficult for patients to get treatment and find a doctor who understands long COVID.

“We don’t necessarily have treatment options that have been studied and proven,” Elmore said. “We’re still waiting for the science to catch up to guide us clinically. And I think the patients are also having a hard time finding clinicians that may even believe that they have long COVID.”

Overall, scientists looked at almost 10,000 people, nearly 90% of whom had been infected with the coronavirus — including people infected before the omicron era. That meant that about 10% were uninfected, which was important to help scientists distinguish those with symptoms similar to long COVID but who could not be afflicted with the syndrome.

“This study was much more scientifically rigorous than the earlier ones because it at least had a control group,” Elmore said.

Overall, scientists identified about three dozen symptoms more often found in people who have had a coronavirus infection, said Tanayott Thaweethai, lead author of the study and an associate director of biostatistics research at Massachusetts General Hospital and instructor at Harvard Medical School.

They then used a statistical technique to winnow the symptoms that best differentiate people with a history of coronavirus infection. They found about a dozen: postexertional malaise (in which a person feels worse after even minor physical or mental exertion); moderate or severe fatigue; dizziness; brain fog; gastrointestinal symptoms; heart palpitations; changes in desire for or capacity for sex; loss of smell or taste; excessive thirst; chronic cough; chest pain; and abnormal movements.

Researchers then assigned a score to each symptom to help diagnose long COVID. For instance, postexertional malaise has a score of 7; brain fog, 3; and heart palpitations, 2. A combined total of 12 or higher was defined as having the syndrome.

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2023-06-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

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