![]() If a person scored 12 or higher, they met the study’s definition of long COVID. Brain fog was given a value of 3, and gastrointestinal issues and fatigue were worth 1 point each.Įach participant was given a score based on their combination of the 12 identified symptoms. Loss of taste and smell, which is an unusual symptom outside the context of the virus, was given a value of 8 points. Investigators established a scoring system, with a point value assigned to each symptom based on how unique it is to people with long COVID. More than 30 symptoms across multiple body areas and organs were assessed in order to identify those most linked to people who had a previous COVID-19 infection. Study Assigned Varying Point Values to Different Symptomsįor this symptoms study, researchers examined data from 9,764 adults, including 8,646 who had COVID-19 and a control arm of 1,118 who did not have COVID-19. “Especially the post-exertional malaise, brain fog, and fatigue - these are very common symptoms among the patients I see,” Bender says. These symptoms line up with Bender’s experience in UW Medicine’s long COVID clinic. Bender’s colleagues were involved in the study. UW Medicine was among over 200 clinical sites that contributed to the investigation, so a few of Dr. “We have all been really excited for the initial results of this study,” says Jessica Bender, MD, MPH, an internal medicine physician and co-medical director at the University of Washington’s Post-COVID-19 Rehabilitation and Recovery Clinic at UW Medicine in Seattle. Study Findings Match What Doctors Are Seeing in Long COVID Clinics “Importantly, people with long COVID may have many additional symptoms that correlate with these 12,” says Foulkes. ![]() Post-exertional malaise (the worsening of symptoms following even minor physical or mental activity).The study found the following were the 12 most common symptoms of long COVID: “We identified 12 symptoms that set apart people with and without a history of infection,” Dr. ![]() ![]() The study’s principal goal was to develop an approach to identify people with long COVID based on symptoms - and to do it in a data-driven way, says co-lead author Andrea Foulkes, ScD, the director of biostatistics at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. The report is among the first wave of published studies from the ongoing $1.2 billion National Institute of Health (NIH) RECOVER trial. Researchers consider it a big first step in the quest to find treatment or even a cure for the condition. By some estimates, lingering symptoms of the virus affect 65 million people worldwide.Īn ambitious new scientific investigation published in JAMA on May 25 proposed a list of 12 symptoms that can be used to identify long COVID. Although vaccinations, treatments, and immunity from previous infection have significantly reduced the number of people who get severely ill with COVID-19, long COVID is not going away. ![]()
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