What to expect the first time you encounter a patient with ‘long COVID’

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What to expect the first time you encounter a patient with ‘long COVID’

1 September 2021

Jo Scott-Jones

Wednesday 1 September 2021, 12:30 AM

Symptom clusters in long COVID, based on temporal similarities. Plots show time courses for the symptoms in each cluster (grey lines) and the mean for each cluster (coloured lines)

[Image: Davis HE, et al (EClinicalMedicine 2021;101019), CC BY 4.0]

GP Jo Scott-Jones warns that New Zealanders with long COVID may go unrecognised and unsupported due to the current small number of patients affected. Here’s what you need to know to help ensure that doesn’t happen

Key Points, Approximately 10 per cent of people who encounter the SARS-CoV-2 virus will have “long COVID”. Long COVID has multiple manifestations, the most comm, Pract Green w Pale Yellow

COVID-19

References

1. Ministry of Health. COVID-19: Current cases. 17 August 2021. https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-current-cases

2. Liu B, Jayasundara D, Pye V, et al. Whole of population-based cohort study of recovery time from COVID-19 in New South Wales Australia. Lancet Reg Health West Pac 2021;12:100193.

3. Davis HE, Assaf GS, McCorkell L, et al. Characterizing long COVID in an international cohort: 7 months of symptoms and their impact. EClinicalMedicine 2021;101019: 15 July online.

4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Post-COVID Conditions. 12 July 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/long-term-effects.html

5. Editorial. COVID-19 pathophysiology: looking beyond acute disease. Lancet Respir Med 2021;9(6):545.

6. Campbell Murdoch. Can ‘Long COVID’ shine light on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? 7 December 2020. https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/opinion/can-long-covid-shine-light-chronic-fatigue-syndrome

7. National Health Service. NHS sets up specialist young people’s services in £100 million long COVID care expansion. 15 June 2021. https://www.england.nhs.uk/2021/06/nhs-sets-up-specialist-young-peoples-services-in-100-million-long-covid-care-expansion/

8. Nalbandian A, Sehgal K, Gupta A, et al. Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome. Nat Med 2021;27(4):601–15.

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