US study finds 1 in 10 get long COVID after omicron

US study finds 1 in 10 get long COVID after omicron, starts identifying key symptoms

BROWN BACK NOW WITH THE STORY. JESSICA YEAH, YOU KNOW, RESEARCHERS ESTIMATE AS MANY AS 23 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE EXPERIENCED SOME FORM OF LONG COVID AFTER GETTING THE VIRUS SYMPTOMS LASTING FOR MONTHS AND FOR SOME MUCH LONGER. WE REVISITED ONE LOCAL WOMAN WHO SAYS IT’S NOW YEAR THREE OF HER BATTLE AND SHE SAYS SHE FEELS LIKE SHE JUST CAN’T WIN. IS THIS IT? IS THIS THE PLATEAU, THIS VIRTUAL SUPPORT SESSION IS FOR LONG COVID PATIENTS A REFUGE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL EXPERIENCING HEALTH PROBLEMS LONG AFTER THE INITIAL INFECTION THEY’RE JUST DISCOVERING. SO MANY DIFFERENT THINGS. SOME OF THE PEOPLE IN THIS GROUP HAVE BEEN IN THIS FIGHT FOR MORE THAN THREE YEARS, LIVING WITH LIFE CHANGING SYMPTOMS FROM EXTREME FATIGUE TO LOSS OF TASTE OR SMELL TO DEBILITATING BRAIN FOG. PEOPLE GET IT. THEY GET UP AND THEY GO ON ABOUT THEIR BUSINESS. WHAT ABOUT THOSE OF US THAT HAD IT BEFORE THAT WE ARE STILL REALLY SUFFERING? CASSANDRA CASS WAS DIAGNOSED WITH A SEVERE CASE OF COVID IN 2020, SO SEVERE SHE WAS HOSPITALIZED AND INTUBATED SO SHE COULD BREATHE. WHEN WE VISITED HER LAST MARCH, SHE WAS OUT OF THE HOSPITAL BUT STILL OUT OF WORK ON DISABILITY, STRUGGLING WITH HER BREATHING AND DEALING WITH BRAIN FOG. AND WHEN WE MET HER AGAIN LAST MONTH, NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED, ACTUALLY. I FEEL LIKE I’VE GONE BACKWARDS. CASSANDRA SAYS THE LONG COVID HAS NOW TRIGGERED NEW HEALTH ISSUES. LAST YEAR I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL IN AN ICU AND THEY TOLD ME I HAD RENAL FAILURE. I’VE NEVER HAD KIDNEY ISSUES AS WE GO ALONG, THEY’RE GOING TO BE DISCOVERING OTHER THINGS BECAUSE THAT WAS JUST OUT OF THE BLUE, BECAUSE I KNOW EVERYONE HERE HAS TALKED ABOUT LIKE JUST BEING SCARED OF GETTING IT AGAIN. AND SO WHEN IT HAPPENS, IT’S LIKE EXTRA TERRIFYING. DOCTOR JACKIE FRENCH IS A SENIOR CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER AT BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER. SHE LEADS THESE VIRTUAL SUPPORT GROUPS REGULARLY AND SAYS SHE SEES A WIDE RANGE OF LONG COVID PATIENTS FROM THE AGES OF 19 TO 80 YEARS OLD, ALL WITH VARYING SYMPTOMS. THE FATIGUE, THE BRAIN FOG AND THEN ALSO SOME OF THE LIKE NEUROLOGICAL CARDIAC ISSUES TO WHERE PEOPLE, THEIR HEART RATE SKYROCKETS OR THEIR BLOOD PRESSURE PLUMMETS HAVE JUST MADE IT REALLY HARD TO GO BACK TO WORK. AND THEN THERE ARE A WHOLE OTHER HOST OF JUST LIKE KIND OF BIZARRE ONE OFF SYMPTOMS THAT PEOPLE EXPERIENCE, JUST LIKE HAIRS GROWING IN THE CORNER OF THEIR EYES OR, YOU KNOW, KIND OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF PAIN OR HAIR LOSS. DOCTOR FRENCH USES SPECIFIC BREATHING PROGRAMS AND PHYSICAL AND OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIES TO HELP PATIENTS IMPROVE AND SAYS SHE IS SEEING RESULTS IN GENERAL. WE DO SEE PEOPLE GETTING BETTER. AGAIN, IT’S NOT NEARLY AS FAST AS THEY OR WE WOULD LIKE. IT’S NOT ALWAYS TO 100% OF LIKE AGAIN, WHO THEY WERE PRE-COVID NECESSARILY, BUT THERE ARE ALSO MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES LIKE DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY. THERE’S ALSO THIS SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL ISOLATION THAT COMES WITH LONG COVID, NOT JUST IN THE ISOLATION OF EXPERIENCE THAT PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY’RE GOING THROUGH. IT’S A FEELING CASSANDRA KNOWS WELL. ALL SHE WANTS NOW IS SOMEHOW TO GET PAST COVID. I WANT TO BE ABLE TO WALK AGAIN. I WANT TO BE ABLE TO WEAR MY HEELS. AND YOUR DRESS. WELL, HERE’S THE THING. THERE’S STILL A LOT THAT WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT. LONG COVID RESEARCHERS HERE AND ACROSS THE WORLD ARE ACTIVELY TRYING TO SOLVE THAT MYSTERY TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO TREAT AND STOP THOSE SYMPTOMS. OF COURSE, WE’LL BE FOLLOWING ANY NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THAT RESEARCH. BUT AGAIN, YOU CAN IMAGINE THE FRUSTRATIO

US study finds 1 in 10 get long COVID after omicron, starts identifying key symptoms

About 10% of people appear to suffer long COVID after an omicron infection, a lower estimate than earlier in the pandemic, according to a study of nearly 10,000 Americans that aims to help unravel the mysterious condition.Related video above: Long COVID patients still seeking answers three years laterEarly findings from the National Institutes of Health's study highlight a dozen symptoms that most distinguish long COVID, the catchall term for the sometimes debilitating health problems that can last for months or years after even a mild case of COVID-19.Millions worldwide have had long COVID, with dozens of widely varying symptoms including fatigue and brain fog. Scientists still don't know what causes it, why it only strikes some people, how to treat it — or even how to best diagnose it. Better defining the condition is key for research to get those answers."Sometimes I hear people say, 'Oh, everybody's a little tired,'" said Dr. Leora Horwitz of NYU Langone Health, one of the study authors. "No, there's something different about people who have long COVID and that's important to know."The new research, published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, includes more than 8,600 adults who had COVID-19 at different points in the pandemic, comparing them to another 1,100 who hadn't been infected.By some estimates, roughly 1 in 3 of COVID-19 patients have experienced long COVID. That's similar to NIH study participants who reported getting sick before the omicron variant began spreading in the U.S. in December 2021. That's also when the study opened, and researchers noted that people who already had long COVID symptoms might have been more likely to enroll.But about 2,230 patients had their first coronavirus infection after the study started, allowing them to report symptoms in real-time — and only about 10% experienced long-term symptoms after six months.Prior research has suggested the risk of long COVID has dropped since omicron appeared; its descendants still are spreading.The bigger question is how to identify and help those who already have long COVID.The new study zeroed in on a dozen symptoms that may help define long COVID: fatigue; brain fog; dizziness; gastrointestinal symptoms; heart palpitations; sexual problems; loss of smell or taste; thirst; chronic cough; chest pain; worsening symptoms after activity and abnormal movements.The researchers assigned scores to the symptoms, seeking to establish a threshold that eventually could help ensure similar patients are enrolled in studies of possible long COVID treatments, as part of the NIH study or elsewhere, for an apples-to-apples comparison.Horwitz stressed that doctors shouldn't use that list to diagnose someone with long COVID — it's a potential research tool only. Patients may have one of those symptoms, or many — or other symptoms not on the list — and still, be suffering long-term consequences of the coronavirus.Everyone's doing studies of long COVID yet "we don't even know what that means," Horwitz said.

Related video above: Long COVID patients still seeking answers three years later

Early findings from the National Institutes of Health's study highlight a dozen symptoms that most distinguish long COVID, the catchall term for the sometimes debilitating health problems that can last for months or years after even a mild case of COVID-19.

Millions worldwide have had long COVID, with dozens of widely varying symptoms including fatigue and brain fog. Scientists still don't know what causes it, why it only strikes some people, how to treat it — or even how to best diagnose it. Better defining the condition is key for research to get those answers.

"Sometimes I hear people say, 'Oh, everybody's a little tired,'" said Dr. Leora Horwitz of NYU Langone Health, one of the study authors. "No, there's something different about people who have long COVID and that's important to know."

The new research, published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, includes more than 8,600 adults who had COVID-19 at different points in the pandemic, comparing them to another 1,100 who hadn't been infected.

By some estimates, roughly 1 in 3 of COVID-19 patients have experienced long COVID. That's similar to NIH study participants who reported getting sick before the omicron variant began spreading in the U.S. in December 2021. That's also when the study opened, and researchers noted that people who already had long COVID symptoms might have been more likely to enroll.

But about 2,230 patients had their first coronavirus infection after the study started, allowing them to report symptoms in real-time — and only about 10% experienced long-term symptoms after six months.

Prior research has suggested the risk of long COVID has dropped since omicron appeared; its descendants still are spreading.

The bigger question is how to identify and help those who already have long COVID.

The new study zeroed in on a dozen symptoms that may help define long COVID: fatigue; brain fog; dizziness; gastrointestinal symptoms; heart palpitations; sexual problems; loss of smell or taste; thirst; chronic cough; chest pain; worsening symptoms after activity and abnormal movements.

The researchers assigned scores to the symptoms, seeking to establish a threshold that eventually could help ensure similar patients are enrolled in studies of possible long COVID treatments, as part of the NIH study or elsewhere, for an apples-to-apples comparison.

Horwitz stressed that doctors shouldn't use that list to diagnose someone with long COVID — it's a potential research tool only. Patients may have one of those symptoms, or many — or other symptoms not on the list — and still, be suffering long-term consequences of the coronavirus.

Everyone's doing studies of long COVID yet "we don't even know what that means," Horwitz said.

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