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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
Unravelling Long COVID An authoritative medical reference on the various ways in which Long-COVID presents and an in-depth discussion of its mechanisms and potential therapeutic options. Unravelling Long COVID aims to provide a better awareness and understanding of the persistent health problems that can arise following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Variously described as Long-COVID, Long-Haulers' Syndrome, and Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, this newly-designated disorder is estimated to have affected somewhere between 50 to 250 million people. It is in fact considered by many as the next global public health disaster. With such a broad and important topic, the authors of Unravelling Long COVID have focused primarily on two major problems in the current understanding of Long-COVID: 1.) the failure to distinguish patients with organ damage--here called Long-COVID Disease - and those with unexplained, persistent symptoms--what is termed Long-COVID syndrome, and 2.) the failure of current medical approaches to comprehend and treat those persistent unexplained symptoms. Unravelling Long COVID is: * One of the first books focused specifically on defining and understanding Long-COVID with the goal of establishing optimal management * A unique reference to distinguish patients with organ damage caused by Long-COVID disease from those with unexplained, persistent symptoms that manifest as Long-COVID syndrome * An in-depth exploration of neuroimmune pathways to help clarify the previously unexplained symptoms of Long-COVID Unravelling Long COVID isan essential reference for anyone interested in Long-COVID and the impact that this condition has had on the population. It will be a useful resource for both patients suffering from the Long-Covid syndrome, their physicians and for the growing number of Long-COVID clinics that have been established across the US, the UK, and other countries. This book is paired with a long-COVID blog, updated regularly by the authors, so the reader will be kept up to date with new clinical and research findings, in real time. To visit this site, follow this link: unravellinglongcovid.com - providing the latest information on long-COVID
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Seitenzahl: 474
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
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Table of Contents
Cover
Dedication Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Introduction
Reference
Section 1: Long-COVID Disease
1 Long‐COVID Disease or Long‐COVID Syndrome?
Defining Long COVID
Long‐COVID Disease or Syndrome?
Long COVID in Hospitalized Patients
Long COVID in Non‐hospitalized Patients
Comparing Hospitalized and Non‐hospitalized Patients
Long COVID in Children
Summary
References
2 Lung, Heart Disease, and Other Organ Damage
Lung Disease
The Heart
Other Organ Disease
Summary
References
3 COVID‐19 Direct Effects on the Central Nervous System
Introduction
Overview
Summary
References
Section 2: Long-COVID Syndrome and Unexplained Symptoms
4 Unexplained Symptoms
Overview
Fatigue
Cognitive Disturbances
Dyspnea
Chronic Pain
Headaches
Sleep Disturbances
Mood Disturbances
Summary
References
5 Historical Perspectives, Including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Fibromyalgia
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME)
Fibromyalgia Syndrome
CFS/ME, Fibromyalgia in Long‐COVID
Post‐treatment Lyme‐disease Syndrome (PTLDS)
Similar Patient Characteristics
Shared Illness Mechanisms
Lessons Learned from CFS/ME, Fibromyalgia, PTLDS
Infection and Causation
Patient‐Physician Information and Misinformation
Mind or Body?
Summary
References
Section 3: Mechanisms and Pathways
6 Brain Homeostasis Run Amok
Brain Homeostasis in Health and Disease
Our Physical Brain Regulates Our Thoughts
Brain Circuits and Networks
Neuroplasticity
Brain Dysfunction
Detecting Structural and Functional Brain Changes
Changes in the Autonomic Nervous System, Neurohormones, and the Stress Response
Summary
References
7 Neuroimmune Dysfunction
Is Long COVID an Autoimmune Disease?
Evidence that Long‐COVID Syndrome is a Neuroimmune Disorder
Cytokines and the Brain
Autoantibodies in Long‐COVID Syndrome
Can Vaccines also Cause Autoimmune Reactions?
Immune Tests for Long COVID
Neuroimmune Studies in CFS/ME, Fibromyalgia, and Depression
Is a Unifying Theory of How Long‐COVID Syndrome Develops Possible?
Summary
References
Section 4: Evaluation and Management
8 Patient Evaluation and Research
Need: Widely Accepted Long‐COVID Term and Case Definition
Need: Uniform Symptom and Outcome Measures
Initial Evaluation, Primary Care Role
Long‐COVID Clinics
Research
General Clinical Research
Basic Research
Summary
References
9 Patient Management and Rethinking Healthcare Amid Long COVID
Management
Pulmonary and Physical Rehabilitation
Exercise
Evaluate and Treat Autonomic Dysfunctions and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome
Psychological Rehabilitation
Medications and Other Therapies
SARS‐CoV‐2 Vaccine
Health Coverage, Disability
Rethinking Healthcare Amid Long COVID
Patient Advocacy
Integrated, Patient‐centric Care
A Biopsychosocial Illness Model
References
10 The Way Forward
For Patients
Assessing Illness Severity
General Principles You Should Know
Who Do You Listen To?
Avoiding Misinformation and Disinformation
Disability and Disability Insurance
Biopsychological Perspectives to Remember
For Healthcare Providers
Specialty Care
Research, Patients, and the Public
A New Chronic Illness Strategy
Summary
References
Appendix A: Long‐COVID Clinics in the US and Europe
Appendix B: Suggestions for Future Research Focused on the Cellular and Molecular Basis of Long‐COVID Syndrome
Hypothesis 1: Brain‐restricted Autoimmunity causes Long‐COVID Syndrome
Hypotheses 2: SARS‐CoV‐2 Infection Alters the Microbiome, which in turn Initiates Long‐COVID Syndrome
Hypothesis 3: Long‐COVID Syndrome is Related to Persistent SARS‐CoV‐2 Virus or Virus Fragments Sequestered in Brain Cells
References
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 1
Table 1.1 Our definition of long COVID.
Table 1.2 Symptoms at 6 and 12 months.
a
Table 1.3 Long‐COVID symptoms at one year.
Table 1.4 Comparing hospitalized versus non‐hospitalized COVID‐19 patients....
Table 1.5 Comparing long‐COVID disease to long‐COVID syndrome.
Chapter 2
Table 2.1 Lung function at 6 and 12 months according to respiratory difficu...
Chapter 4
Table 4.1 Peripheral or central pain.
Chapter 5
Table 5.1 Similar features of CFS/ME, fibromyalgia, and long‐COVID syndrome...
Chapter 7
Table 7.1 Characteristics of a systemic autoimmune disease versus neuroimmu...
Chapter 8
Table 8.1 Symptom and outcome measures in long COVID.
Chapter 10
Table 10.1 Characteristics of patients at University College London Long‐CO...
Table 10.2 Long‐COVID symptoms in unvaccinated versus vaccinated.
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 Defining long COVID as both a disease and a syndrome.
Figure 1.2 Symptoms six months after hospitalization for COVID‐19.
Figure 1.3 Symptoms during acute infection, at three months, and six months....
Figure 1.4 Most disturbing long‐COVID symptoms.
Figure 1.5 Factors that contribute to variability in prevalence estimates of...
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Lack of correlation between PFTs and dyspnea at 10 months post‐CO...
Figure 2.2 Most common cardiovascular complications in long COVID.
Figure 2.3 Cardiac findings after COVID‐19 before three months and between t...
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 Most common long‐COVID symptoms.Figure 2. And Office of Natio...
Figure 4.2 Different specialists use different syndrome names for similar sy...
Figure 4.3 Central and peripheral components of fatigue.
Figure 4.4 Exaggerated hyper‐ventilatory response in long COVID versus contr...
Figure 4.5 Correlation of sleep duration with developing a cold.
Figure 4.6 Fatigue and its intersecting symptoms in the general population, ...
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 Percent of subjects with chronic symptoms at one year.
Figure 5.2 Pain intensity and brain reactivity in fibromyalgia. Top left: Pa...
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 Schematic diagram of one response to brain injury that involves r...
Figure 6.2 Schematic illustration of the reduced and reordered brain network...
Figure 6.3 Autonomic nervous system cartoon (partial). ANS also controls blo...
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1 Model of localized neurohormone reactivity in long COVID.
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 Initial long‐COVID patient evaluation.
Figure 8.2 Suggested algorithm for follow‐up care and management of post‐acu...
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 Causes of unmet care need identified by long‐COVID patients.
Figure 9.2 Quality of information received by long‐COVID patients.
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 External and internal factors in long COVID.
2
Figure B.1 Schematic illustration of brain capillary with red and white bloo...
Guide
Cover Page
Dedication Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Introduction
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Appendix A Long‐COVID Clinics in the US and Europe
Appendix B Suggestions for Future Research Focused on the Cellular and Molecular Basis of Long‐COVID Syndrome
Index
WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
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Your book purchase provides you with free access to unravellinglongcovid.com
Long–Covid is an evolving medical disorder, and it is essential that patients and their healthcare providers receive updated, important information in a timely fashion. To accomplish this, we have linked this book with our new website, unravellinglongcovid.com. This provides a unique opportunity for the reader to learn about the latest medical and scientific studies on Long–Covid. This will begin with a review of any significant information that we have learned during the months that this book was in publication. The website will be updated at bi-weekly intervals and sooner if an essential new study is reported. It will also offer the reader an opportunity to ask questions of the book's authors.
Don Goldenberg, MD
Unravelling Long COVID
Don Goldenberg, MD
Emeritus Professor of Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
Boston, MA, USA
Adjunct Faculty, Departments of Medicine, Nursing
Oregon Health Sciences University
Portland, OR, USA
Marc Dichter, MD, PhD
Emeritus Professor of Neurology
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Philadelphia, PA, USA
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Introduction
As the COVID‐19 pandemic stretched on, it became abundantly clear that many patients had persistent symptoms long after all signs of the initial infection vanished. These lingering symptoms persist for months in 30% to 80% of patients who were hospitalized with COVID‐19 infection and 10% to 30% who were not hospitalized. They appear in people across a wide spectrum of COVID‐19 sufferers, including those with mild illness or even asymptomatic infections. These long‐lasting symptoms are present in adults and children, and current estimates suggest that at least 25 million Americans, and ten times that worldwide, have been or will be affected. Many experts believe that the persistent symptoms following acute COVID‐19 will become the next major, global public health disaster.
Understanding these persistent symptoms has been wrought with confusion. Researchers and clinicians have not even agreed upon a name, with long COVID or long‐haulers' syndrome often used and post‐acute sequelae of SARS‐Cov‐2 (PASC) recommended by most medical societies. There is not a uniform definition, and the proposed diagnostic criteria focus on the duration of symptoms rather than the nature of the symptoms. At the present time, patients, healthcare professionals, and scientists find themselves looking for answers about the nature of long COVID.
We believe that there are two main issues that have interfered with understanding long COVID. The first involves a failure to distinguish patients with an obvious source for their persistent symptoms from the many patients whose symptoms cannot be easily explained. The term long COVID was coined by patients to describe a constellation of persistent symptoms that were not being adequately acknowledged nor explained. Patients saw multiple physicians and were undergoing numerous tests, without answers.
We have made such a distinction, outlined initially in Section 1, by grouping patients with organ damage after COVID‐19, what we term long‐COVID disease, apart from those whose persistent symptoms are unexplained, what we call long‐COVID syndrome. This grouping answers a diagnostic dilemma, described by Alwan in the July 2021 Science, “One important issue is whether ‘Long Covid’, as a label, will include organ pathology diagnosed weeks or months after COVID‐19, or whether these cases move out into an alternative diagnostic category, leaving only those with ‘unexplained’ symptoms as having Long Covid” [1].
In the book's first section, we detail the persistent symptoms and clinical course of patients with organ damage, suggesting that their disease pathways and outcomes are similar to those of patients after any severe illness. The perplexing issue is how to better understand the lingering symptoms following COVID‐19 infection that are not explained by organ damage. These persistent symptoms have been called “medicine’s blind spot.” Such common, persistent symptoms have been a source of confusion and controversy for centuries. In Section 2, we compare such persistent symptoms to those in the general population and then in medical conditions most often compared to long COVID, including chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) and fibromyalgia.
In Section 3, we explore the mechanisms underlying long‐COVID syndrome. This requires an appreciation of brain homeostasis in health and disease and how alterations in central nervous system pathways can explain these symptoms. We suggest that, rather than a traditional autoimmune disease, long‐COVID syndrome fits best within a neuroimmunologic framework.
In the final section of the book, we discuss current and future patient evaluation, including innovative research in long COVID. Finally, we discuss ongoing treatment programs, including dedicated long‐COVID clinics throughout the world and guidelines for primary care awareness and optimal management. We examine the important role of patient advocacy and the potential impact of consumer‐directed research. We suggest new approaches to balance physician and patient perspectives.
One of us, DG, was already researching long COVID, while writing his book Covid’s Impact on Heath and Health Care Workers. DG, Emeritus Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, is a rheumatologist and an international expert in many of the illnesses often compared to long COVID, including CFS/ME and fibromyalgia. He has evaluated and treated more than twenty‐thousand patients with these conditions and has experienced the frustrations of his profession's unsuccessful attempts to understand the causes of these very disabling conditions that inflict suffering on so many people. His interests in long COVID were stimulated by the common symptoms affecting long‐COVID patients to those he has dealt with in patients for four decades.
Simultaneously and independently, his long‐time friend and medical colleague, MD, Emeritus Professor of Neurology and Former Director of the Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, is a neurologist physician‐scientist with a life‐long research interest in the intricate workings of the brain under normal conditions and in a variety of disease states. MD is particularly interested in researching and understanding the persistent or new brain‐related symptoms that occur in people recovering from COVID‐19. Despite living on opposite sides of the United States from one another, Portland, Oregon and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the two specialists decided to write this book together, meshing their complementary clinical and research interests.
The authors' backgrounds in medicine are ideally suited to help people understand this vexing and mysterious disorder. DG has spent much of his career dealing with chronic illnesses that cannot be easily pigeonholed as physical or psychologic and are best appreciated from a biopsychological illness model. MD has focused his research on brain disease from a biomedical disease model. We believe that long COVID can be best understood by integrating biomedical and biopsychological illness models.
Reference
1
Alwan, N.A. (2021). The road to addressing Long Covid.
Science
373 (6554): 491–493.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg7113
.
Section 1Long-COVID Disease
1Long‐COVID Disease or Long‐COVID Syndrome?
Defining Long COVID
What does long COVID mean? In an all‐encompassing fashion, it refers to any symptoms following a SARS‐CoV‐2 infection that persist for an extended time. It is not uncommon for symptoms to persist after an infection. Long COVID is a new term, introduced by patients, to account for multiple symptoms that last months and interfere with daily life, yet have no clear medical explanation.
Initially, definitions of long COVID were based primarily on the duration of symptoms, with symptoms lasting for more than three months considered unusual. Since most individuals with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection recover completely within three months, we adopted the time frame for long COVID to include symptoms that last more than three months [1]. Subsequent case definitions included the most prominent lingering symptoms. Fatigue, shortness of breath (dyspnea), musculoskeletal pain, cognitive disturbances, sleep and mood disturbances, and headaches are the most common persistent symptoms; we included these symptoms in our long‐COVID definition (Table 1.1).
What has made long COVID so important and controversial is how these characteristic symptoms persisted long after all signs of the initial infection disappeared. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggested the term, post‐acute sequelae of SARS‐Cov‐2 (PASC) and defined post‐acute symptoms as those that develop during or after COVID‐19 infection that cannot be attributed to an alternative diagnosis. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), and Royal College of General Physicians termed the symptoms post‐COVID syndrome, defined as, “Signs and symptoms that develop during or after an infection consistent with COVID‐19, continue for more than 12 weeks and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis. It usually presents with clusters of symptoms, often overlapping, which can fluctuate and change over time and can affect any system in the body. Post‐COVID‐19 syndrome may be considered before 12 weeks while the possibility of an alternative underlying disease is also being assessed.” [1, 2].
Table 1.1 Our definition of long COVID.
Documented or Suspected SARS‐Cov‐2 infection.
Duration of symptoms greater than three months.
More than three of the following symptoms:
Fatigue
Dyspnea
Musculoskeletal pain
Headaches
Cognitive disturbances
Sleep disturbances
Mood disturbances
How do we define the absence of an underlying disease? For patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) with severe COVID, these persistent symptoms align with a phenomenon often called post‐ICU syndrome. Dr. Anthony David, Professor at the Institute of Mental Health, University College, London, stated in December 2021, “If a patient recovers from the acute respiratory illness, but remains short of breath and is found to have pulmonary fibrosis or pericarditis by accepted criteria, or, experiences brain fog and mental slowing, later linked to microvascular infarcts on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)—can they be removed from the post‐COVID‐19 cohort? I would say yes. Their condition may be unusual, and it may be serious, but it is not mysterious. These conditions add to the tally of morbidity caused by COVID‐19, but not to post‐COVID‐19 syndrome [3].” For those patients with organ damage during the initial infection, we will use the term long‐COVID disease. When the persistent symptoms following a SARS‐Cov‐2 infection remain unexplained we use the term long‐COVID syndrome.
Long‐COVID Disease or Syndrome?
We believe that it is essential to recognize that long COVID is a disease in some situations whereas in others it is a syndrome. Disease is defined by organ damage, such as when a biopsy reveals cancer. A disease is characterized by its symptoms, such as pain or exhaustion, as well as physical signs, such as fever or swelling. In contrast, the term syndrome is applied to a medical disorder without obvious organ damage. Syndromes are diagnosed based solely by their symptoms. A syndrome is like a temporary placeholder for an illness, that may graduate to the more objective realm of a disease. Oftentimes, diseases originally considered syndromes were found to have a specific cause and/or organ damage/dysfunction, which lead to their recategorization as diseases.
Many patients have clinical evidence of organ damage during acute COVID infection. Their long‐COVID symptoms follow the script of other severe, infectious diseases. The persistent symptoms correlate with the severity and duration of the acute infection. Almost all hospitalized patients have lung disease, and their persistent shortness of breath is the result of organ damage that may or may not be reversible. There is nothing mysterious about their long‐lasting dyspnea and it can be measured by objective pulmonary abnormalities, such as pulmonary function tests and lung imaging. This is long‐COVID disease.
However, other patients with persistent symptoms after a COVID‐19 infection lack obvious organ damage and the underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms are unclear. Their physical examination, blood tests, X‐rays, and imaging studies are normal. Syndromes are characterized by symptoms that involve many systems (multisystemic), occur together (cluster) and fluctuate in severity. These patients should be diagnosed with long‐COVID syndrome, distinct from those patients suffering from well‐described disease pathology.
To illustrate these differences, we will present two cases, one that we identify as long‐COVID disease and the second, long‐COVID syndrome.
Case 1. James, a 62‐year‐old man, was admitted to the hospital on June 1, 2020, because of increasing shortness of breath. His past medical history included adult‐onset diabetes and obesity. He had experienced a cough and low‐grade fever for three days, and a nasal swab tested positive for SARS‐CoV‐2 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) the day before admission. Upon admission, he had a fever of 103° and was breathing rapidly. His initial chest X‐ray demonstrated ground‐glass opacities in both lungs and his oxygen saturation was 88%, normal oxygen saturation is greater than 94%. Over the first 48 hours, his breathing worsened despite nasal oxygen and prone positioning. He was transferred to the ICU where he was intubated and sedated as needed for mechanical ventilation. His treatment included corticosteroids and monoclonal antibodies in addition to the mechanical ventilation. After two weeks, the breathing tube was disconnected, and he was transferred from the ICU to a rehabilitation unit where he spent the next four weeks. In the rehabilitation unit, he needed a wheelchair at first, then graduated to a walker, but he was still profoundly weak. He described a constant worry about himself and his family, feeling “like being in a dark tunnel, trapped, and alone. I haven't seen my wife and children for more than a month, except on Zoom calls.”
When James finally returned home, he was unable to stand without assistance and could only walk one block. He had lost 40 pounds. A repeat chest X‐ray, taken one month after discharge, revealed scarring consistent with pulmonary fibrosis. Over the next six months, he continued to have shortness of breath with minimal activity despite an intensive course of pulmonary and occupational rehabilitation. Gradually, his ability to take care of himself and his pulmonary function tests improved slightly. One year after his hospitalization he said, “I'm still quickly exhausted. Even having my grandchildren over for a few hours is so draining. I worry that I will never get back to the way I was.”
Case 2. Sarah, a 48‐year‐old female, began having symptoms that she suspected were related to a COVID‐19 infection in March of 2020. She had been in good health with no chronic medical problems other than a long history of migraine headaches. Her acute symptoms included a low‐grade fever, cough, headaches, and generalized muscle aches. Coronavirus testing was not yet widely available, but her primary care physician told her that she likely had COVID‐19 and told her to self‐quarantine for two weeks. Gradually, she felt better and returned to work as a nurse's aide but almost immediately stopped working, because “I was completely exhausted, mentally and physically. I was unable to do the simplest tasks. My heart kept racing and each time I tried to take a short walk, I had to stop and catch my breath. I found myself falling asleep throughout the day but then unable to sleep at night. The worst is this brain fog. I can't focus or concentrate on anything.” Her primary care doctor examined her, ordered a chest X‐ray and blood tests, but found no abnormalities. During the next few months, she saw a cardiologist, neurologist, and pulmonologist. A chest CT scan, pulmonary function tests, an MRI of the brain, and an echocardiogram were all normal.
The migraine headaches worsened, adding to her sense of dread. Her neurologist increased the dose of her migraine medications and thought she was becoming depressed. An antidepressant was prescribed but it did not help her mood or her exhaustion. The cardiologist was quite certain that her heart was not the problem, but he recommended further cardiac testing, including a cardiac MRI and coronary angiogram. These were also normal. Sarah was then referred to an endocrinologist and an immunologist. Their test results were also normal and could not make a specific diagnosis.
Now, 18 months after her initial infection, Sarah continues to feel short of breath and exhausted. “Before COVID, I worked out every day and I had run two marathons. Now, if I try to do even modest exercise I have to lay down for an hour. My chest hurts a lot, and it sometimes hurts just to take a breath. Even though all my heart tests are normal, I worry that they are missing something. I still can't concentrate, can't even write an email back to my friends. Some days I feel pretty good and then for no reason, all my symptoms get worse, and I am back to square one.”
The first case represents what we call long‐COVID disease, and James' persistent symptoms are readily explained by the severe lung infection that resulted in irreversible lung disease and the subsequent long rehabilitation. His subsequent medical course and prolonged disability follow biomedical illness models (Figure 1.1). Sarah's symptoms are characteristic of long‐COVID syndrome. Her persistent symptoms do not correlate with organ damage. Her protracted suffering may be better understood from a biopsychological illness model (Figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Defining long COVID as both a disease and a syndrome.
Unfortunately, most reports of long COVID did not record the presence or absence of organ damage. It is very likely that any patient hospitalized from acute SARS‐CoV‐2 infection had significant pulmonary disease. Therefore, we use hospitalization as a proxy for organ damage. Contrasting a series of hospitalized versus non‐hospitalized patients provides us with a surrogate to compare long‐COVID disease to long‐COVID syndrome.
Regarding the documentation of a SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, we assumed that each hospitalized patient was a definite case of COVID‐19. In non‐hospitalized patients we used a positive laboratory test for acute SARS‐CoV‐2 to confirm the diagnosis of COVID‐19.
We will focus on studies that include a control group of non‐COVID‐19 subjects. Many reports of long COVID failed to compare the prevalence of symptoms, organ damage, and outcome following COVID‐19 to that of people in the general population or to patients with other diseases. This requires a controlled study [4]. This is especially important when evaluating symptoms that are common in the general population. At first glance, it may seem important if a hypothetical study found that 30% of non‐hospitalized patients had headaches six months after COVID‐19. However, the significance of that finding pales if 25% of the general population also had chronic headaches.
We recognize that our focus on cases with a confirmed SARS‐CoV‐2 infection and studies that had a control or comparison group limits some of our observations. Many patients with long COVID were never tested or may have had a false negative test, and confirmatory test results should not be required in the clinical care of patients with long COVID. However, studies requiring a confirmatory diagnosis of SARS‐Cov‐2 and using control populations are necessary for research. Such reports are necessary to avoid inherent bias in interpreting the findings. For example, in one study, self‐reported long COVID was four times more common than a laboratory‐confirmed diagnosis and the persistent symptoms differed in the self‐reported cases from those in confirmed cases [5]. Long‐COVID symptoms at one year correlated more with the belief of having COVID‐19 than with a laboratory‐confirmed diagnosis. Persistent pain and fatigue as well as sleep, cognitive, gastrointestinal, and mood disturbances were associated with a belief of having COVID‐19 whereas the only symptom associated with a confirmatory SARS‐CoV‐2 test was a loss of smell.
We believe that distinguishing long‐COVID disease from long‐COVID syndrome is an important first step to understanding long COVID. However, many patients with prolonged symptoms do not fit neatly into either the disease or syndrome category. We think of them as having components of both a disease and a syndrome (Figure 1.1) James had severe lung disease and fit into our long‐COVID disease category. His subsequent course can be explained by the ravages of that lung damage. Yet, many of his persistent symptoms, such as mood and cognitive disturbances, are likely related to his months in the hospital, social isolation, and sense of hopelessness. These are not direct effects from the lung damage. Sarah fits the biopsychological model of long‐COVID syndrome, as manifested by the paucity of any abnormal tests nor evidence for organ pathology. However, as we will discuss in Section 3, the boundary between long‐COVID disease and long‐COVID syndrome becomes blurred when examining the brain (Figure 1.1). Neuroplasticity and neuroimmune mechanisms allow us to better understand these complex interactions.
Long COVID in Hospitalized Patients
Well‐controlled studies have demonstrated that patients hospitalized with COVID‐19 have much greater, persistent health problems than uninfected subjects. In a large study from the United Kingdom (UK), 48 000 patients hospitalized with COVID‐19 infection were followed up at a mean of 140 days post‐discharge and compared to subjects from the general population who did not have COVID‐19 [6]. The two groups were matched for age, sex, ethnicity, co‐morbidities, and body mass index. Nearly one‐third of the COVID‐19 patients had been readmitted and 10% had died after the initial hospitalization. Rates for readmission in those 140 days were fourfold greater than in non‐COVID‐19 subjects and rates of deaths were eightfold greater. During those four and one‐half months, there were greater pulmonary symptoms and more cardiovascular, diabetes, kidney, and liver disorders in the COVID‐19 patients compared to the non‐infected controls.
More than 1200 COVID‐19 patients discharged from a single hospital in Wuhan, China were followed up at 3, 6, and 12 months after their hospitalization [7]. These long‐COVID patients were matched to community controls who did not have COVID‐19. At one year, the COVID‐19 patients had more overall medical symptoms, including more pain, problems with mobility, and mood disturbances, than did community controls. The median age of the long‐COVID group was 59 years and 53% were men. At 186 days after hospitalization, more than 80% of the patients reported at least one symptom consistent with long COVID. There were significantly more persistent medical symptoms in these patients compared to the community controls who were not infected, 66% versus 33% (Table 1.2) [7]. At least one long‐COVID symptom was present in 68% of the hospitalized group at 6 months and 49% at 12 months. There was a slight increase in dyspnea from 26% at 6 months to 30% at 12 months and in depression or anxiety, from 23% to 26% at 12 months.
Women had more long‐COVID symptoms than men, including greater fatigue, anxiety, or depression, and greater dyspnea, which was documented with abnormal pulmonary function testing. There was no correlation of the fatigue, sleep disturbances, hair loss, smell disturbances, palpitations, or joint pain with the severity of respiratory difficulty during the hospitalization, which was graded as Scale 3, not requiring supplemental oxygen versus Scale 5, requiring ventilatory assistance (Figure 1.2).
Table 1.2 Symptoms at 6 and 12 months.a
Source: Based on Huang et al. [7].
Symptom (%)
6 months
12 months
At least one long‐COVID symptom
68
49
Fatigue
52
20
Pain
27
29
Mood disturbances
23
26
Sleep disturbance
27
17
Joint pain
11
12
Palpitations/tachycardia
10
9
a Each symptom was significantly more common in COVID patients than controls.
Figure 1.2 Symptoms six months after hospitalization for COVID‐19.
In controlled reports comparing hospitalized COVID‐19 patients to non‐infected community controls, about 10% of patients meet criteria for long COVID at three to six months after hospital discharge [6–8]. These differences, when comparing long‐COVID symptoms in hospitalized patients to those in matched controls, tend to decrease over time but are still substantial at one year [7, 8].
A one‐year, controlled study from Spain compared patients hospitalized with COVID‐19 from March 1 to April 15, 2020, to patients hospitalized for another reason during that same time frame [9]. At least one long‐COVID symptom was present at 12 months in 36% of the COVID‐19 patients and 35% of the controls (Table 1.3). The only persistent symptoms at one year that were more common in the COVID‐19 patients were upper respiratory symptoms, such as sore throat, cough or dysphonia, confusion or memory loss, and anxiety. This study confirms the importance of using a control population and the authors concluded that “These findings suggest that, rather than attributing persistent symptoms to COVID‐19, it is the need for hospitalisation that prolongs long‐term symptomatology.”
In uncontrolled studies, long COVID has been present in most hospitalized patients. In one report of 9751 hospitalized COVID‐19 patients, 73% had at least one persistent symptom 60 days after infection [10]. The most frequent symptoms were fatigue in 40%, dyspnea in 36%, sleep disturbances in 30%, memory loss in 27%, and anosmia in 20% with depression, anxiety, cognitive disturbance, palpitations, myalgias, and headache each about 15%. The PHOSP‐COVID survey, a prospective, longitudinal study of more than 2000 COVID‐19 patients discharged from UK hospitals in 2020–2021, found that 90% of hospitalized COVID‐19 patients had at least one persistent symptom one year later, with an average of nine symptoms [11]. The most common persistent symptoms at one year were fatigue (60%), muscle pain (55%), sleep and cognitive disturbances (50%), and shortness of breath (50%). Persistent symptoms were associated with female sex, more severe acute illness, and co‐morbidities, including obesity. Patients who required mechanical ventilation during their hospitalization and had multiple symptoms were less likely to fully recover at one year. Inflammatory laboratory markers, such as an elevated C‐reactive protein (CRP), correlated with the severity of initial infection and poor outcome. Less than one‐third of these patients described themselves as fully recovered one year after hospitalization. In contrast, in the report from Wuhan, China, 88% had returned to their previous work [7]. Of the 12% unable to return to their prior jobs, one‐third noted that it was because of physical limitations after COVID‐19.
Table 1.3 Long‐COVID symptoms at one year.
Source: Modified from Rivera‐Izquierdo et al. [9].
Long‐COVID symptom
% in COVID‐19 patients
% in controls
Any long‐COVID symptom
36
35
Fatigue
8
12
Muscle/joint pain
9
11
Dyspnea
15
12
Chest pain
1
2
Headache
3
3
Anxiety
7
a
4
Confusion, memory loss
4
a
2
Depression
5
4
Sleep disturbances
4
3
Upper respiratory symptoms
3.5
a
1
a Significant increase in long‐COVID patients versus controls.
Long COVID in Non‐hospitalized Patients
In two, large, controlled studies from the UK, symptoms consistent with long COVID were sixfold more common in seropositive subjects compared to non‐infected subjects [12, 13]. In the first, a general population survey, 3% of the SARS‐CoV‐2 positive patients had at least one symptom consistent with long COVID at three months, compared to 0.5% in the controls. Approximately 5% of seropositive subjects had at least one symptom of long COVID at 12–16 weeks and 4.2% at 16–20 and 20–24 weeks. These were each statistically more prevalent than in seronegative controls.
Another large UK prospective survey, part of a mobile application termed “The COVID Symptom Study”, launched on March 24, 2020 [13]. Subsequently, more than five million people registered for the app. An initial report of 4182 individuals who tested positive for SARS‐CoV‐2 found that 14% of participants had medical symptoms more than 28 days, 5% at more than 8 weeks, and 2% more than 12 weeks after infection. The most prominent symptoms that persisted for more than one month were fatigue, headache, dyspnea, and anosmia. These persistent symptoms correlated with increasing age, body mass index, the female sex, and having more symptoms at initial presentation. The five symptoms in the first week that were most predictive of long COVID were fatigue, headache, dyspnea, a hoarse voice, and myalgias.
In the REACT‐2 study of more than 1.5 million UK residents, the weighted (controlled for the general population) prevalence of at least three long COVID symptoms at three months was 2.2%, including at least one‐third that reported “a significant effect on my daily life” [14]. Long COVID was more common in women. This study included a small number of hospitalized patients.
Two studies compared persistent symptoms consistent with long COVID in infected healthcare workers (HCWs) to those in uninfected HCWs. In the first study, 140 HCWs were identified as SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive cases with mild to moderate symptoms and compared to 1160 uninfected controls [15]. The control subjects remained asymptomatic and had negative PCR and antibody tests for SARS‐CoV‐2. Some symptoms, particularly a loss of taste and smell, were much more prominent in COVID‐19 patients compared to controls. Nevertheless, many other symptoms, including mood and sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal disturbances, and hair loss, were just as common in SARS‐CoV‐2‐negative as SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive subjects.
The second study evaluated 2000 HCWs in Sweden at two, four, and eight months after what were considered mild SARS‐CoV‐2 infections and compared those symptoms to HCWs who had not been infected [16]. Previous SARS‐CoV‐2 infection status was based on the detection of a SARS‐CoV‐2 IgG antibody. The analysis included 323 seropositive and 1072 seronegative individuals of a similar age (median 45 years) that were 84% female. At least one or more symptoms were fourfold more common in seropositive individuals, with a loss of smell and/or taste, fatigue, and dyspnea all being significantly more prevalent. At two to four months, anosmia, ageusia, and fatigue were the most common symptoms, and each were significantly more common in seropositive patients. A loss of taste and smell were more than 30‐fold greater in SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive patients than in the controls.
As discussed above in hospitalized patients, the importance of control groups cannot be overstated. In the UK Symptoms Survey, 86% of PCR‐positive subjects reported persistent fatigue but so did 58% of uninfected subjects; 77% of infected subjects had persistent headaches but so did 58% of PCR‐negative individuals [13]. In contrast, a persistent loss of smell was present in 60% of the infected patients but only 7% of controls. In a report from the US, 90% of SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive subjects were symptomatic three months after infection with an average of nine symptoms but so were 60% of the seronegative subjects with an average of five persistent symptoms [17].
However, reports of long COVID from online support groups have been invaluable in providing more details about persistent symptoms and their impact on daily activities. For example, using patients' recall, we can compare more than 25 symptoms during the SARS‐CoV‐2 infection to those at both three‐ and six‐months post‐infection [18, 19] (Figure 1.3).
As noted in controlled studies, fatigue is the most persistent symptom in long COVID, present in 90% of patients during the acute infection as well as in 80% at three and six months. In contrast, a loss of taste and smell, present in more than 60% during the acute infection, decreased to 20% of subjects at both three and six months. As in hospitalized patients, the number of symptoms present initially correlated with long COVID.
Figure 1.3 Symptoms during acute infection, at three months, and six months.
Source: Modified from Vaes et al. [18].
Comparing Hospitalized and Non‐hospitalized Patients
A systematic analysis of more than 11 000 patients with COVID‐19 compared the demographic characteristics and symptoms in hospitalized versus non‐hospitalized patients [20]. The demographic characteristics and long‐COVID symptoms varied greatly among the two groups (Table 1.4). Non‐hospitalized, long‐COVID patients were younger, and three‐quarters were female. The symptoms were also very different.
Neuropsychiatric symptoms, including cognitive disturbances, particularly confusion, and mood disturbances were much more common in the non‐hospitalized patients. Furthermore, the prevalence of most neuropsychiatric symptoms, including depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances increased from follow‐up time points at three months to six months whereas a loss of smell, taste, myalgias, and cognitive dysfunction remained unchanged.
Table 1.4 Comparing hospitalized versus non‐hospitalized COVID‐19 patients.
Source: Based on Premraj et al. [20].
Characteristic
Hospitalized
Non‐hospitalized
Demographics
Female (%)
46
74
Mean age (yrs)
58
45
Long‐COVID symptom (%)
Fatigue
27
50
Brain fog
23
39
Pain
27
31
Confusion
2
49
Memory issues
26
30
Myalgias
7
27
Headache
3
32
Sleep disturbance
25
36
Depression
14
25
Anxiety
17
31
The fact that a loss of taste and smell do not change much from three to six months, compared to depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances that all increased from three months to more than six months, suggests different illness mechanisms. This makes intuitive sense since mood and sleep disturbances are often considered psychiatric in nature, whereas a loss of taste and smell are neurologic disorders. As we will discuss throughout the book, this artificial distinction falls apart when we closely examine the combination of biological and psychological pathways involved in cognitive disturbances and fatigue.
Long COVID in Children
Initially there was little concern that long COVID was common in children [19, 21]. This was related to the fact that children are much less likely than adults to become symptomatic or require hospitalization. Subsequently, long COVID in non‐hospitalized children was featured in the media. Kate Dardis, age 14, reported persistent headaches, exhaustion, tachycardia, shortness of breath, and difficulty concentrating months after a probable SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, “It's really difficult. As a gymnast, I've always pushed through different types of pain and injury. I try to push myself, but with this whole experience, it's just been too hard. My doctors are telling me I just have to listen to my body and take it one day at a time” [21].
However, in studies comparing children infected with SARS‐CoV‐2 to children not infected, long COVID has been rare. A systematic analysis on more than 20 000 children found a slight increase in symptoms consistent with long COVID compared to a control population [19]. The symptoms that were significantly more common after COVID‐19 in these children included a loss of smell, headaches, and cognitive difficulties. In the largest, controlled study, 38 000 children with PCR‐verified SARS‐CoV‐2 infections were compared to 78 000 seronegative children [22]. Compared to controls, only 1% of the infected children reported symptoms consistent with long COVID. In total, 33% of the infected children and 23% of non‐infected children had more than three symptoms at three months. The most common symptoms were fatigue, loss of smell and/or taste, muscle weakness, dizziness, chest pain, and dyspnea. Concentration difficulty, headache, muscle or joint pain, and nausea were not more common in the infected children compared to controls. Cardiac and respiratory symptoms have been less common in children with long COVID than in adults. As in adults, there has been an alarming increase in persistent psychological symptoms in children and adolescents during the pandemic, but this has not differed between infected and non‐infected youth [23].
Long‐term Outcomes
In hospitalized patients, long COVID is associated with organ damage, and correlates with increased age, ICU admission, and multiple symptoms upon admission. In non‐hospitalized patients, there is no association of long‐COVID symptoms with the severity of the initial infection. Being female and the number of symptoms at one month and nine months were risk factors for psychological distress [24–26]. In most studies of non‐hospitalized patients, certain symptoms, such as fatigue and dyspnea, do not seem to change much over time, whereas others, notably a loss of smell and taste, fall dramatically [18].
These lingering symptoms adversely impact the quality of life in long‐COVID patients, whether hospitalized or not. One‐quarter of patients with long COVID had not recovered completely six to eight months after their infection, and one‐half of patients reported working reduced hours seven months after their initial infection, and 20% were unable to work [27, 28]. Long‐COVID patients, compared to controls, had poorer function, decreased physical activity, increased mood disturbances, and decreased vigor. Long‐term outcomes are especially problematic in hospitalized patients with severe initial infections. One year after ICU hospitalization for COVID‐19, more than one‐half have had problems returning to work [27, 28].
In a study that carefully evaluated patients at four and eight months after SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, the persistent symptoms were quantified [29]. This study included 10 COVID‐19 patients who were initially asymptomatic, 125 who were symptomatic but not hospitalized, and 44 who were hospitalized. Fever, chills, and upper respiratory symptoms were only present during the initial infection. Most of the symptoms characteristic of long COVID, including fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive disturbances, were prominent at each follow‐up visit, but some peaked at 28–36 weeks. Fatigue was present in 45% at 28–36 weeks compared to 28% at 12–20 weeks, concentration problems in 40% versus 30%, and sleep problems in 30% versus 20%. More than 50% of the patients said that their symptoms at 12–20 weeks and at 28–36 weeks bothered them “a lot.” At week six, 60% of patients stated that fatigue bothered them a lot, 65% at week 16, and 43% at week 32. Mood disturbances were reported by about one‐third of patients at the 28‐ to 36‐week period but were generally considered mild. Quality of life was significantly lower at 28 to 36 weeks than before COVID‐19. These investigators suggested that patients with long COVID could be segregated into two subsets, those with multiple persistent symptoms and those with just a few.
In a nine‐month report that included an equal number of hospitalized and non‐hospitalized patients, more than one long‐COVID symptom was present in 31% of patients at three months and 20% at nine months [30]. The most frequent symptoms at nine months were fatigue in 11%, dyspnea in 8%, myalgias in 7%, and a loss of taste in 4%. Risk factors for persistent symptoms at nine months included being more than 50‐years old, ICU admission, and more than four initial symptoms. Fatigue resolved more slowly in hospitalized patients. At nine months, 19% of patients had impaired mental health, and being female was an independent risk factor for mental health symptoms.
At one year following hospitalization or emergency department visits, 57% of patients had long COVID, including fatigue in 19%, dyspnea in 19%, cognitive disturbances in 17%, myalgias in 11%, and sleep disturbances in 11% [1]. In a systematic review of hospitalized and non‐hospitalized patients, long‐COVID triggers for relapses included physical activity in 71%, stress in 60%, exercise in 54%, and mental activity in 46% [31]. Two‐thirds of patients had moderate to extreme problems with daily activities at six months. Long‐COVID sleep problems, fatigue, cognitive disturbances, depression, anxiety, and post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were common, tracked together, and did not change significantly over the first six months following long COVID, either in hospitalized or non‐hospitalized patients [31].
In looking at how disturbing each symptom was in Long‐COVID patients, including in both hospitalized and non‐hospitalized subjects, fatigue and cognitive disturbances were identified as very or moderately disturbing in 90% of patients (Figure 1.4) [32].
From the public's perspective, long COVID has become a major concern. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has surveyed the general population about COVID‐19 and long COVID almost monthly. Self‐reported long COVID, described as symptoms lasting for more than one month, were present in almost 2% of the UK population [33]. It was estimated that 1.3 million people in the UK were experiencing long COVID as of January 2, 2022. Of those who said they had long COVID, 60% said it had negatively affected their well‐being, 40% said it had negatively affected their ability to exercise, and 30% that it had adversely affected their work. Compared to those who had not experienced long COVID, those with long COVID reported twofold greater depression and one‐third more anxiety as well as a lower life satisfaction and happiness. One‐third of patients with long COVID reported a significant adverse financial impact due to a loss of income, medical expenses, or both. One‐quarter who had long COVID were struggling to pay their housing costs compared to 18% who did not have long COVID. The likelihood to self‐report long COVID was greater in middle‐aged females. There was a greater use of healthcare services in patients with long COVID compared to population controls, and 50% needed increased support with daily life activities, such as cleaning, preparing meals, and transportation.
Figure 1.4 Most disturbing long‐COVID symptoms.
Source: Modified from Castanares‐Zapatero et al. [32].
Summary
There is considerable variability in prevalence estimates of long COVID, with estimates varying from 1–2% to 60–80% of infected subjects. This variability is related to many factors, most importantly the fact that there is not a unifying definition of long COVID as well as the absence of population controls in most prevalence studies. We have focused on studies that carefully controlled for symptoms in the general population. It is especially likely that self‐reports are subject to recall bias.
In controlled reports, 5% to 15% of hospitalized patients and 1% to 2% of non‐hospitalized patients will have long COVID, defined as three or more characteristic symptoms that last for at least three months after the initial SARS‐CoV‐2 infection (Table 1.1) [6, 7, 10]. We have also focused on studies in which the initial infection was documented by hospital admission for acute COVID‐19 or with a positive SARS‐CoV‐2 test. However, in the future, other patient demographics and methodologic factors need to be assessed, as suggested by Raman and colleagues (Figure 1.5), [34].
We believe that long COVID is best appreciated as two distinct conditions: a disease, characterized by organ damage, and a syndrome, whose pathological mechanisms are unclear (Table 1.5). However, current studies on long COVID have not distinguished between the prevalence of symptoms following organ damage from those unrelated to organ damage. We have used hospitalization as a proxy for organ damage since hospitalization and severe initial disease is more likely to correlate with organ damage.
The demographics in these two groups are different, with more male patients, greater medical co‐morbidities, and a significantly higher average age in the long‐COVID disease patients. Long‐COVID syndrome has been reported more in young, previously healthy women. In patients with long‐COVID disease, compared to long‐COVID syndrome, the severity of their persistent symptoms correlates with the severity of the initial infection. There are also important differences in the most dominant symptoms and the symptom trajectory when comparing long‐COVID disease and long‐COVID syndrome at one year. Symptoms explained by organ damage, such as a loss of smell or taste, resolved in most patients between 6 and 12 months. Dyspnea has improved or stabilized, as have lung imaging and pulmonary function tests (PFTs). However, the six‐minute walking time in patients with long COVID often remains prolonged in hospitalized and non‐hospitalized patients [35]. This suggests that lung damage is responsible for the persistent dyspnea in most hospitalized patients but may have a more complicated etiology in non‐hospitalized patients. In contrast, fatigue, widespread pain, cognitive, mood, and sleep disturbances, are often as prominent or more bothersome at 8 to 12 months than at 3 to 6 months, especially in non‐hospitalized patients.
Figure 1.5 Factors that contribute to variability in prevalence estimates of long COVID.
Source: With permission: From Raman et al. [34], Figure 2, pg 1160.
Table 1.5 Comparing long‐COVID disease to long‐COVID syndrome.
Characteristics
Disease
Syndrome
Average age (yrs)
50–60
30–50
Percent female
45–50
60–75
General health
Co‐morbidities
Good
Hospitalized
Majority
Infrequently
Organ
Damage
Dysfunction
Correlates with initial severity
Yes
No
A systematic review agreed with our assessment that hospitalized and non‐hospitalized patients should be differentiated, “If, in due course, significant symptomatic differences emerge from data comparing hospitalized and non‐hospitalized patients, then there could be a case that the term ‘long COVID’ is best reserved for patients who were not hospitalized—or that a sub specifier could be useful to denote the severity of initial respiratory and/or other symptoms” [31]. Removing hospitalized patients from the long‐COVID syndrome group allows us to differentiate long COVID from post‐ICU syndrome (PICS), as discussed in Chapter 3.
The correlation of persistent symptoms with initial disease severity and organ damage in long‐COVID disease is consistent with biomedical disease models. In keeping with usual disease trajectory, symptoms such as a loss of taste and smell or dyspnea improve over time. In contrast, the demographic differences, lack of correlation with initial severity or defined organ damage, and little improvement in symptoms such as fatigue or pain suggests a different illness model for long‐COVID syndrome. In Chapters 2 and 3, we will focus on long‐COVID disease and how it has primarily damaged the lungs, heart, and brain. In Sections 2 and 3 we focus on organ dysfunction and introduce biopsychological and neuro‐immunologic illness models to understand long‐COVID syndrome.
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