Abstract
Globally, there are now over 160 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 3 million deaths. While the majority of infected individuals recover, a significant proportion continue to experience symptoms and complications after their acute illness. Patients with ‘long COVID’ experience a wide range of physical and mental/psychological symptoms. Pooled prevalence data showed the 10 most prevalent reported symptoms were fatigue, shortness of breath, muscle pain, joint pain, headache, cough, chest pain, altered smell, altered taste and diarrhoea. Other common symptoms were cognitive impairment, memory loss, anxiety and sleep disorders. Beyond symptoms and complications, people with long COVID often reported impaired quality of life, mental health and employment issues. These individuals may require multidisciplinary care involving the long-term monitoring of symptoms, to identify potential complications, physical rehabilitation, mental health and social services support. Resilient healthcare systems are needed to ensure efficient and effective responses to future health challenges.
Highlights
There are over 160 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 3 million deaths.[1]
The UK’s current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline states that long COVID encompasses ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 syndrome.[11]
This review summarises the current evidence on symptom prevalence
Summary
There are over 160 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 3 million deaths.[1]. The patient-coined term ‘long COVID’ was proposed[7,8] and there were calls for its full adoption in scientific literature.[9,10] The UK’s current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline states that long COVID encompasses ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 (where symptoms last for 4 to 12 weeks) and post-COVID-19 syndrome (when they persist beyond 12 weeks in the absence of an alternative diagnosis).[11] Figure 1 depicts the potential clinical course of COVID-19. Complications and management of long COVID and highlights priority areas for research
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