Long Covid: More information sought

What you need to know about the latest on long covid U.S. government estimates suggest that between 7 million and 23 million Americans are suffering from the long-term effects of infection with the coronavirus. Frances Stead Sellers Washington Post

Nearly three years into the coronavirus pandemic the long-lasting consequences of covid-19 are becoming more evident. What we don’t know: the exact causes of long covid. What we don’t have: a test to diagnose the condition.

Most people who develop covid recover quickly, but a subset suffer new or ongoing health problems that are first identified at least four weeks after infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health, which was awarded more than $1 billion over four years to support research, and groups of patient-researchers are working to develop a better understanding of the prolonged health consequences of infection with the virus.

“So many of the questions don’t yet have good answers,” said Harlan Krumholz, a professor of medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine, who has been studying long covid.

A large Scottish study published this week in Nature Communications found that between six and 18 months after infection, 1 in 20 people had not recovered and 42 percent reported partial recovery. That study found that the risk of long covid was greater among women, older people and those who live in economically disadvantaged communities.

The results of that study are compelling because it is so large. It included more than 33,000 people with laboratory-confirmed infections, along with 62,957 never-infected individuals.

Even people with mild infections can develop long covid, but experts say it is more common among people who are the sickest during the period of acute infection. People who have preexisting physical and mental health problems, such as respiratory disease and depression, are also more prone to long covid.

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