Tag: long covid awareness

The long COVID evidence gap in England

Introduction:

The term long COVID, also known as post-COVID-19 condition, was coined in spring, 2020, by individuals with ongoing symptoms following COVID-19 in response to unsatisfactory recognition of this emerging syndrome by health-care practitioners.

In September to November, 2020, clinical codes for persistent post-COVID-19 condition and related referrals were introduced and became available for use by health-care practitioners to record details of clinical encounters in electronic health records (EHRs) in England. EHRs, which cover a large proportion of individuals living in England, are increasingly used to help understand the epidemiology of disease alongside the effectiveness and safety of interventions.
Many factors influence the completeness of information in EHRs, including help-seeking behaviour of patients and the discretion and data-recording behaviour of practitioners. Longitudinal population-based studies often include participant self-reports of illness; hence, these studies might be subject to reporting and participation biases. Comparing reported illness in studies to recorded illness in the EHRs of the same individuals might be helpful in understanding the epidemiology and clinical recognition of emerging conditions such as long COVID.
Source: Knuppel A, Boyd A, Macleod J, Chaturvedi N, Williams DM. The long COVID evidence gap in England. Lancet. 2024 May 6:S0140-6736(24)00744-X. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00744-X. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38729195. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00744-X/fulltext (Full text)

Long-Term Symptoms of COVID-19: One-Year Follow-Up Study

Abstract:

Introduction: Persistent and prolonged symptoms, termed as long COVID (coronavirus disease), have been reported in several patients who recovered from the acute phase at different intervals. However, there has been largely unclear data regarding the full range of long-term sequelae of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of long COVID syndrome.

Methods: A long-term research was conducted in the COVID-19 unit of a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan from July 2020 to December 2021 in which 2,000 patients who had recovered from COVID-19 and had been discharged were included in the study. Symptoms were noted at the time of discharge and at follow-up after 12 months. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) v. 22.0 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, New York, United States).

Results: The mean age of the participants was 43 ± 10 years, 801 (53.8%) males and 688 (46.2%) females. At the time of discharge, the most common symptom was fatigue (26.93%), followed by dyspnea (20.34%) and muscle pain (8.86%). The most common symptom on follow-up was fatigue (6.78%).

Conclusion: We strongly emphasize discussing and exploring further knowledge on the post-infection syndrome, with an aim to bring healthcare professionals’ attention to the importance of handling COVID patients, their counseling, warning for alarming signs, and a long-term follow-up with necessary investigations and treatment.

Source: Shivani F, Kumari N, Bai P, et al. (June 14, 2022) Long-Term Symptoms of COVID-19: One-Year Follow-Up Study. Cureus 14(6): e25937. doi:10.7759/cureus.25937 https://www.cureus.com/articles/91406-long-term-symptoms-of-covid-19-one-year-follow-up-study (Full text)

Representation of long COVID syndrome in the awareness of the population is revealed by Google Trends analysis

Abstract:

In some COVID-19 patients, symptoms persist for several weeks and sometimes, after the acute disease phase, these patients develop new symptoms, which then represents a transition into the so-called long COVID. The exact demarcation of the terms and generally applicable definitions are still discussed, but the phenomenon is most commonly referred to as long COVID.

In this study, Google Trends data have been used to track levels of public awareness for long COVID and some important symptoms during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this analysis clearly demonstrate the public interest in the new topic of long COVID, as documented by a corresponding search volume. This is related to the disease COVID-19, which is being spread by the corona pandemic. Relevant symptoms for COVID-19 or long COVID, for example ageusia and anosmia, only started to receive more public attention during the pandemic. Therefore, Google Trends is a useful tool to demonstrate the population’s awareness of certain infodemiological topics like long COVID.

Source: Kaatz M, Springer S, Schubert R, Zieger M. Representation of long COVID syndrome in the awareness of the population is revealed by Google Trends analysis. Brain Behav Immun Health. 2022 Jul;22:100455. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2022.100455. Epub 2022 Mar 26. PMID: 35373158; PMCID: PMC8957367. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8957367/ (Full text)