Long COVID was "more common and severe in study participants infected before the 2021 Omicron variant," says a new, large study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“This study is an important step toward defining long COVID beyond any one individual symptom,” said study author Leora Horwitz, M.D., director of the Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science at NYU Langone Health. “This approach — which may evolve over time — will serve as a foundation for scientific discovery and treatment design,” she said in the news release.
The revelation about the pre-Omicron variant was among several about long COVID-19, the post-infection group of disorders that can impact almost every tissue and organ in the body, NIH said in its press release.
The study, published in the medical journal JAMA, was done under the NIH's Researching COVID to Enhance Recover (RECOVER) Initiative. It said people may experience symptoms such as weariness, confusion, and dizziness for months or even years after being infected with COVID.
The study polled nearly 10,000 adults, most of whom had suffered from COVID. More than 30 symptoms were evaluated. Of these, 12 most distinguished between those individuals with long COVID from those without it. These symptoms included post-exercise malaise, fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, gastrointestinal symptoms, heart palpitations, problems with sexual desire or capacity, loss of smell or taste, thirst, chronic cough, chest pain, and abnormal movements, NIH reported.
Researchers also identified a threshold for identifying participants with long COVID, adding that some symptoms occurred together. Of the patients surveyed who contracted after Dec. 1, 2021, when the Omicron variant was circulating, about 10% experienced long-term symptoms or long COVID after six months.
Of the 100 million Americans who have contracted COVID, the federal Household Pulse survey estimated that about 6% of those infected continue to experience symptoms termed together as long COVID, NIH reported.
“Americans living with long COVID want to understand what is happening with their bodies," Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel L. Levine said in the release. "RECOVER, as part of a broader government response, in collaboration with academia, industry, public health institutions, advocacy organizations and patients, is making great strides toward improving our understanding of long COVID and its associated conditions.”
RECOVER is a $1.15 billion NIH initiative studying why some people develop long-term symptoms after COVID, as well as how to detect and treat it, the release said. For more information on RECOVER, visit https://recovercovid.org.
