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Found 459 results
  1. Content Article
    This study in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases aimed to identify the highest-risk subgroups for Covid-19 and Long Covid, particularly relating to influenza and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The authors looked at the records of patients with Covid-19 and Long Covid in linked electronic health records for England. They compared all-cause hospitalisation and mortality by prior CVD, high CV risk, vaccination status (Covid-19/influenza) and CVD drugs, to investigate the impact of vaccination and CVD prevention. The results of the study showed that prior CVD and high CV risk are associated with increased hospitalisation and mortality in Covid-19 and Long Covid. The authors call for targeted Covid-19 vaccination and CVD prevention to be prioritised.
  2. News Article
    In the latest Office for National Statistics survey, published in April, 111,816 children (aged three to 17) in England and Scotland were estimated to be suffering from Long Covid during the four-week period ending 7 March. More than 20,000 of these children have found their ability to undertake day-to-day activities has been “limited a lot”. For Toby, it has meant pain, crushing fatigue and sadness – as well as months off school. Dr Binita Kane is a Manchester-based consultant respiratory physician with a special interest in Long Covid. Her experience comes from being a doctor treating patients with Long Covid and also being the mother of a girl with Long Covid. She says that the 2 million people struggling with Long Covid in England and Scotland have created a massive challenge for the health service. The model for post-Covid services was set up in 2020, and in terms of scale and pace the UK was ahead of the game then. But things have moved on and the NHS hasn’t kept up. “The NHS is a juggernaut,” Kane says. “It cannot change things in a rapid way unless you put the weight of everything behind it, like we did in acute Covid.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 June 2024
  3. Content Article
    This Lancet study examines the discrepancy between occurrence of Long Covid as perceived and reported by participants in longitudinal population-based studies and evidence of Long Covid recorded in their EHRs. The authors argue that this discrepancy might reflect substantial unmet clinical need, particularly amongst patients of non-White ethnicity. This is in keeping with reports from individuals with Long Covid of difficulties accessing healthcare, and poor recognition of and response to their illness when they do.
  4. News Article
    A former Team GB rower claims a treatment she underwent for long Covid leaves participants feeling "blamed" for being ill. Oonagh Cousins was offered a free place on a course run by the Lightning Process, which teaches people they can rewire their brains to stop or improve long Covid symptoms quickly. Ms Cousins, who contracted Covid in March 2020, said it "exploits" people. However, the programme's founder denied it blames patients for their illness, saying that was completely at odds with the concepts of the programme Ms Cousins had reached a career goal many athletes can only dream of - being selected for the Olympics - when she developed long Covid. By the time the cancelled 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo were rescheduled for 2021, Ms Cousins was too ill to take part. When she went public with her struggles, she was approached by the Lightning Process. It offered her a free place on a three-day course, which usually costs around £1,000. "They were trying to suggest that I could think my way out of the symptoms, basically. And I disputed that entirely," the former rower said. "I had a very clearly physical illness. And I felt that they were blaming my negative thought processes for why I was ill." She added: "They tried to point out that I had depression or anxiety. And I said 'I'm not, I'm just very sick'." Prof Danny Altmann, a leading long Covid researcher, says such behavioural approaches disregard the "mass" of underlying damage in patients that can be measured in tests. Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 May 2024
  5. News Article
    In the first half of 2023, Covid-19 killed 42,670 people in the United States, while the flu killed about half that amount. Yet half as many people received the updated covid booster as those who got the flu shot — even though covid is twice as deadly as influenza. In all, around 22% of people have received the new covid booster, while 47% of people have had a flu vaccine. Experts said much of that covid-shot resistance is due to the continued polarizing nature of the pandemic and of the covid vaccine, which has been shown to reduce the risk for Long Covid as well as serious acute viral infections and deaths. "Public health messaging is also to blame for the lower-than-normal covid vaccine rates," said Dr Al-Aly, a global expert on Long Covid and chief of research and development at the VA Saint Louis Health Care System. "Patients need to better understand that the role of the vaccine isn't to completely prevent covid but to reduce the likelihood of hospitalisation and death, similar to that of a flu shot. By reducing the risk for severe disease, the vaccine also reduces the risk for Long Covid, a debilitating condition that's still poorly understood, has no cure, and has already caused thousands of American deaths," he said. Botched public health messaging also allowed for misinformation to run rampant. Rare adverse events associated with the COVID vaccine have been severely overplayed and spread like wildfire on social media. "Patients need to know that like any vaccine, vaccine injury does occur, but these vaccines have a better safety profile than almost any others," Al-Aly said. "The rewards of getting the vaccine far outweigh the risks, and patients need to understand that." Read full story Source: Medscape, 2 May 2024
  6. News Article
    An NIHR and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded study has revealed that Long Covid leads to ongoing inflammation which can be detected in blood. This suggests that existing drugs which help treat conditions that affect the body’s immune system could be helpful in treating Long Covid, and should be investigated in future clinical trials. The study, which has been published in Nature Immunology, is from two collaborative UK-wide consortia, PHOSP-COVID and ISARIC-4C. These involve scientists and clinicians from universities across the UK, including Imperial College London and the Universities of Leicester, Edinburgh and Liverpool, among others. The research compared 426 people who were experiencing symptoms consistent with Long Covid with 233 people who were also hospitalised for Covid-19 but had fully recovered. The researchers took samples of blood plasma and measured a total of 368 proteins known to be involved in inflammation and immune system modulation. They found that, relative to patients who had fully recovered, those with Long Covid showed a pattern of immune system activation indicating inflammation of myeloid cells and activation of a family of immune system proteins called the complement system. Read full story Source: NIHR, 11 April 2024
  7. Content Article
    This Office for National Statistics (ONS) report provides in-depth analysis of Winter Coronavirus Infection Study (Winter CIS) data looking at trends in self-reported symptoms of Covid-19 including ongoing symptoms and associated risk factors. Winter CIS was a joint study with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), carried out between November 2023 and March 2024 for England and Scotland. The study was structured as a longitudinal panel survey, with each participant sent a questionnaire and asked to take a lateral flow device test every four weeks for the detection of Covid-19.
  8. News Article
    People with long Covid have evidence of continuing inflammation in their blood, which could help understanding of the condition and how it may be treated, a UK study suggests. It found the presence of certain proteins increased the risk of specific symptoms, such as fatigue, in people sick enough to need hospital treatment. It is unclear whether milder cases of Covid have the same effect on the body. A test remains a long way off - but the findings may prompt future trials. Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 April 2024 Related reading on the hub: Top picks: 12 research papers on Long Covid
  9. Content Article
    One in ten severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections result in prolonged symptoms termed long coronavirus disease (Covid), yet disease phenotypes and mechanisms are poorly understood. This study profiled 368 plasma proteins in 657 participants ≥3 months following hospitalisation. Of these, 426 had at least one long Covid symptom and 233 had fully recovered.  The study aimed to understand inflammatory processes that underlie Long Covid. The findings suggest that specific inflammatory pathways related to tissue damage are implicated in subtypes of Long Covid, which might be targeted in future therapeutic trials. Related reading on the hub: Top picks: 12 research papers on Long Covid
  10. News Article
    Some 6.8% of American adults are currently experiencing long Covid symptoms, according to a new survey from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), revealing an “alarming” increase in recent months even as the health agency relaxes Covid isolation recommendations, experts say. That means an estimated 17.6 million Americans could now be living with long Covid. “This should be setting off alarms for many people,” said David Putrino, the Nash Family Director of the Cohen Center for Recovery From Complex Chronic Illness at Mount Sinai. “We’re really starting to see issues emerging faster than I expected.” When the same survey was conducted in October, 5.3% of respondents were experiencing long Covid symptoms at the time. The 1.5 percentage-point increase comes after the second-biggest surge of infections across the US this winter, as measured by available wastewater data. More than three-quarters of the people with long Covid right now say the illness limits their day-to-day activity, and about one in five say it significantly affects their activities – an estimated 3.8 million Americans who are now experiencing debilitating illness after Covid infection. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 15 March 2024
  11. Content Article
    We are seeing more and more people who have been devastated by the long-lasting impact of Covid-19. Long Covid is a relatively new condition which is still being studied and the need for more awareness and advocacy has never been greater. Scientists are carrying out large-scale clinical trials and researchers are on the hunt for new therapies in the hope that patients with Long Covid will finally see improvements in treatment and support for their symptoms.  In this Top picks blog, shared on International Long Covid Awareness Day, we highlight 12 recent research papers on Long Covid. 
  12. Content Article
    The theme of this year’s International Long Covid Awareness Day is ‘Confront Long Covid: Recognise, prevent, act’. In this interview, we speak to retired occupational physician Dr Clare Rayner about her work in understanding Long Covid and its impact on individuals, the health service and the wider economy. She talks about recent guidance she has developed on people with Long Covid returning to work and outlines the impact Long Covid has on the workforce. She calls on healthcare leaders and the Government to invest in treatment-related research as well as highlighting the significant health risks associated with Covid reinfection.
  13. Content Article
    In this Medscape article, nephrologist F Perry Wilson explains the findings of a binational cohort study using the universal electronic health record systems of South Korea and Japan. Data from more than 20 million individuals living in these countries from 2020 to 2021 was used to investigate the effect of Covid-19 on long-term risk for incident autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRD) such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and vasculitis, over various follow-up periods. The study authors found that, compared with those infected with flu, those infected with Covid-19 were more likely to be diagnosed with any autoimmune condition, connective tissue disease, and in Japan, inflammatory arthritis. Wilson observes that although we can't draw causal conclusions from the results, the study highlights that Covid-19 has very different long term effects to other respiratory viruses. 
  14. Content Article
    More than 3 years after the onset of the Covid-19 global pandemic, a wave of evidence suggests that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can lead to postacute sequelae in pulmonary and broad array of extrapulmonary organ systems—including increased risks and burdens of cardiovascular disorders, neurologic and mental health disorders, metabolic disorders (diabetes and dyslipidemia), kidney disorders and gastrointestinal disorders. However, up until now, evidence is mostly limited to the first year postinfection. Bowe et al. built a cohort of 138,818 individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection and 5,985,227 noninfected control group from the US Department of Veterans Affairs and followed them for 2 years to estimate the risks of death and 80 prespecified postacute sequelae of Covid-19 (PASC) according to care setting during the acute phase of infection. They found that the increased risk of death was not significant beyond 6 months after infection among nonhospitalised but remained significantly elevated through the 2 years in hospitalised individuals. Within the 80 prespecified sequelae, 69% and 35% of them became not significant at 2 years after infection among nonhospitalised and hospitalised individuals, respectively. In summary, while risks of many sequelae declined 2 years after infection, the substantial cumulative burden of health loss due to PASC calls for attention to the care needs of people with long-term health effects due to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
  15. Content Article
    In this blog, I discuss the limitations associated with FFP3 (Filtering Face Piece) tight-fitting masks as respiratory protective equipment (RPE) for the healthcare sector during the ongoing Covid pandemic. I highlight inequalities in the distribution of effective RPE among healthcare workers (HCWs) and also draw attention to the underlying reasons for the shortage of RPE that has beset our healthcare services since the start of the pandemic.
  16. Content Article
    Some studies suggest a higher incidence of diagnosis of autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIRDs) among patients with a history of Covid-19 compared with uninfected patients. This binational cohort study of patients in Korea and Japan aimed to investigate the effect of Covid-19 on long-term risk for incident AIRD over various follow-up periods. The authors found that Covid-19 infection was associated with increased risk for incident AIRD compared with matched patients without Covid-19 infection or with influenza infection. The risk for incident AIRD was higher with greater severity of acute Covid-19.
  17. Content Article
    This study compared the blood of patients with confirmed Covid-19 infection with that of uninfected controls. The authors found that there were changes to serum proteins in the blood of patients experiencing Long Covid. This indicates activation of the immune system’s complement cascade, altered coagulation and tissue injury. At the cellular level, Long Covid was linked to aggregates comprising monocytes and platelets. These findings provide knowledge of potential biomarkers for diagnosis and may inform directions for treatments.
  18. Content Article
    This paper provides a summary of a webinar entitled “Long Covid and return to work support - what works?” held in March 2022. The webinar was organised because of the multiple different approaches being taken to the management of Long Covid across the UK and elsewhere. The paper aims to provide guidance to occupational health providers, employers, workers, people with Long Covid, HR personnel, managers, healthcare professionals and unions about the identification and management of Long Covid, particularly relating to return to work. It argues that a multi-disciplinary approach is essential to help retain and support people affected by Long Covid to return to work. It includes information on: Universal first-line screening assessment in Long Covid Red flags and specialist referral Treatment which can help function and recovery Rehabilitation Specific Fitness for Work considerations after Covid-19 infection Examples of workplace adjustments for Long Covid Prevention of infection: risk management in the workplace Workplace public health messages
  19. News Article
    Nearly 70 healthcare workers with Long Covid will take their fight to the High Court later to sue the NHS and other employers for compensation. The staff, from England and Wales, believe they first caught Covid at work during the pandemic and say they were not properly protected from the virus. Many of them say they are left with life-changing disabilities and are likely to lose income as a result. The Department of Health said "there are lessons to be learnt" from Covid. The group believe they were not provided with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) at work, which includes eye protection, gloves, gowns and aprons. In particular, they say they should have had access to high-grade masks, which help block droplets in the air from patient's coughs and sneezes which can contain the Covid virus. But the masks they were given tended to be in line with national guidance. Rachel Hext, who is 36, has always insisted that she caught Covid in her job as a nurse in a small community hospital in Devon. "It's devastating. I live an existence rather than a life. It prevents me doing so much of what I want to do. And it's been four years." Her list of long Covid symptoms includes everything from brain fog and extreme fatigue to nerve damage, and deafness in one ear. Solicitor Kevin Digby, who represents more than 60 members of the group, describes their case as "very important". He says: "It's quite harrowing. These people really have been abandoned, and they are really struggling to fight to get anything. "Now, they can take it to court and hope that they can get some compensation for the injuries that they've suffered." Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 March 2024 Related reading on the hub: Healthcare workers with Long Covid: Group litigation – a blog from David Osborn The pandemic – questions around Government governance: a blog from David Osborn
  20. Content Article
    The South East London Long Covid programme has released 10 short animated films to help people with their recovery.  The films offer guidance, tools, and tips on how to help manage symptoms and reduce the risk of ongoing issues.
  21. Content Article
    This cohort study in the Lancet aimed to evaluate the overall effect of vaccination to prevent Long Covid symptoms and assess comparative effectiveness of the most used vaccines (ChAdOx1 and BNT162b2). The results showed that vaccination against Covid-19 consistently reduced the risk of Long Covid symptoms, which highlights the importance of vaccination to prevent persistent Covid-19 symptoms, particularly in adults.
  22. News Article
    People experiencing Long Covid have measurable memory and cognitive deficits equivalent to a difference of about six IQ points, a study suggests. The study, which assessed more than 140,000 people in summer 2022, revealed that Covid-19 may have an impact on cognitive and memory abilities that lasts a year or more after infection. People with unresolved symptoms that had persisted for more than 12 weeks had more significant deficits in performance on tasks involving memory, reasoning and executive function. Scientist said this showed that “brain fog” had a quantifiable impact. Prof Adam Hampshire, a cognitive neuroscientist at Imperial College London and first author of the study, said: “It’s not been at all clear what brain fog actually is. As a symptom it’s been reported on quite extensively, but what our study shows is that brain fog can correlate with objectively measurable deficits. That is quite an important finding.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 February 2024
  23. Content Article
    Poor memory and difficulty thinking or concentrating (commonly referred to as “brain fog”) have been implicated in syndromes occurring after Covid-19 — a situation that has led to suggestions that Covid-19 may have lasting cognitive consequences. However, objective data on cognitive performance are largely lacking, and how long such deficits may persist and which cognitive functions are most vulnerable are unclear. In this observational study, Hampshire et al. invited 800,000 adults in a study in England to complete an online assessment of cognitive function. The authors estimated a global cognitive score across eight tasks. They hypothesised that participants with persistent symptoms (lasting ≥12 weeks) after infection onset would have objectively measurable global cognitive deficits and that impairments in executive functioning and memory would be observed in such participants, especially in those who reported recent poor memory or difficulty thinking or concentrating (“brain fog”). They found that participants with resolved persistent symptoms after Covid-19 had objectively measured cognitive function similar to that in participants with shorter-duration symptoms, although short-duration Covid-19 was still associated with small cognitive deficits after recovery. Longer-term persistence of cognitive deficits and any clinical implications remain uncertain.
  24. Content Article
    Brain fog is one of the most common, persistent complaints in patients with Long Covid, affecting up to 46% of patients, many of whom also deal with other cognitive concerns like memory loss and difficulty concentrating.  This Medscape article looks at new research suggesting these symptoms may be the result of a viral-borne brain injury that causes cognitive and mental health issues that persist for years. This may offer new options for treating brain fog and other cognitive symptoms associated with Long Covid.
  25. News Article
    From forgetfulness to difficulties concentrating, many people who have Long Covid experience “brain fog”. Now researchers say the symptom could be down to the blood-brain barrier becoming leaky. The barrier controls which substances or materials enter and exit the brain. “It’s all about regulating a balance of material in blood compared to brain,” said Prof Matthew Campbell, co-author of the research at Trinity College Dublin. “If that is off balance then it can drive changes in neural function and if this happens in brain regions that allow for memory consolidation/storage then it can wreak havoc.” Writing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Campbell and colleagues report how they analysed serum and plasma samples from 76 patients who were hospitalised with Covid in March or April 2020, as well 25 people before the pandemic. Among other findings, the team discovered that samples from the 14 Covid patients who self-reported brain fog contained higher levels of a protein called S100β than those from Covid patients without this symptom, or people who had not had Covid. This protein is produced by cells within the brain, and is not normally found in the blood, suggesting these patients had a breakdown of the blood-brain barrier. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 February 2024
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