Longest COVID symptoms ‘solve’ within 12 months

Most long-term symptoms of COVID resolve within a year of diagnosis, according to the results of a retrospective study in Israel. It was published It was published last week in the peer-reviewed BMJ Medical Journal.

“Our study suggests that patients with mild COVID-19 are at risk for a small number of health outcomes, most of which resolve within a year of diagnosis,” the researchers said. says.

The clinical definition of long COVID is still developing. So far, from the diagnosis of COVID-19 he has been defined as symptoms persisting for more than 4 weeks or the emergence of new symptoms, not attributable to other conditions.

More than 2 million people in the UK have long-term COVID-19, according to various studies published this summer. Similarly, report A June survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more than 40% of adults in the U.S. have COVID-19, with one in five (19%) showing long-lasting COVID symptoms. rice field.

Long-term COVID symptoms range from loss of smell and taste, impaired concentration and memory, and difficulty breathing, to weakness, heart palpitations, strep tonsillitis, and dizziness.

The main purpose of the Israeli study was to compare the long-term incidence of long-term symptoms of COVID between uninfected people and those diagnosed with mild virus. To do so, the Israeli team analyzed electronic medical records from the database of her medical foundation, the second largest in the country. Maccabi Healthcare Services.

difficulty breathing

Approximately 299,885 members with complete data were eligible for this study, all had tested positive for COVID-19 between 1 March 2020 and 1 October 2021, but had been diagnosed with You have not been hospitalized within 30 days. An eligible cohort matched her 299,870 similar people who tested negative.

Potentially influencing factors such as alcohol intake, smoking status, socioeconomic level, and various pre-existing chronic diseases were also considered.

Due to the duration of the study, results covered all of the earliest COVID-19 waves, including delta waves, but did not include patients diagnosed with the Omicron variant.

More than 70 long-term COVID-19 conditions were analyzed, comparing early (30-180 days) and late (180-360 days) periods after infection. The status of COVID-19 vaccinated and unvaccinated people was also compared over the same time period.

Studies have shown that chest pain, coughing, hair loss, muscle and joint pain, and respiratory illness were significantly increased only in the early stages. In contrast, brain fog, respiratory problems, dizziness and weakness, palpitations, loss of smell and taste, and strep throat remained at risk in both early and late stages.

However, even for most of these symptoms, the risk difference between those who tested positive for the virus and those who did not was less dramatic in the latter six months of follow-up.

Dyspnea was the most common complaint. The study found that vaccinated people had a lower risk of dyspnea than unvaccinated people.

Children generally had fewer long-term COVID symptoms than adults, and most recovered within a year.

another study According to a study released in January by the UK Office for National Statistics, about a third (30%) of people who self-reported long-term COVID symptoms as of December 2022 had experienced symptoms for at least two years. reported that

Nonetheless, “these findings suggest that the long COVID phenomenon has been feared and debated since the beginning of the pandemic, but that the majority of mild cases do not suffer from severe or chronic long-term illness. suggests,” said the researchers.

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