10% of the US population appears to have suffered from long-term Covid after an infection with omicron variantless than what was thought at the beginning of the pandemic, according to a study of almost 10,000 Americans that seeks to clarify this mysterious condition.
Preliminary findings from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) list a dozen symptoms associated with long-term covida term used to refer to health problems that last for months or even years after having even a mild version of COVID-19.
Millions of people around the world have suffered from long-term Covid, with symptoms including fatigue and mental confusion. Experts still don’t know what causes it, why it only affects certain people, how to treat it, or how best to diagnose it. A narrower definition of the condition would be key for scientists to come up with the answers.
“Sometimes I hear people say, ‘Oh, everyone is a little bit tired,’” said Dr. Leora Horwitz of NYU Langone Health, one of the study authors. “But no, there is something different in people who have long-term Covid, and it is important that that is known.”
The study, published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Associationincluded more than eight thousand 600 adults who suffered from Covid-19 at different points of the pandemic, and compared them with another 1,100 who were not infected.
Some estimates suggest that around a third of people who had Covid-19 had the post-Covid condition. That ties in with NIH study participants who reported getting sick before the spread of the omicron variant in the United States in December 2021. It was also there that the study began, and the experts noted that people who already had symptoms of long Covid might be more willing to participate.
But some 2,230 had their first case of coronavirus after the start of the study, allowing them to report their symptoms in real time, and only 10% experienced persistent symptoms after six months.
Previous studies have suggested that the risk of persistent covid it has decreased since the omicron arrived; their descendants continue to spread.
The big question now is how to identify and help those who already have long-term covid.
The new study focused on a dozen symptoms that could help define persistent Covid: fatigue; mental confusion; dizziness; gastrointestinal symptoms; heart palpitations; sexual problems; loss of taste or smell; thirst; chronic cough; chest pain; symptoms that worsen after a period of activity or abnormal movements.