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Editorial
. 2023 May 11;61(5):2300409.
doi: 10.1183/13993003.00409-2023. Print 2023 May.

Long COVID: clues about causes

Felicity Liew  1 , Claudia Efstathiou  1 , Peter J M Openshaw  2
Affiliations
Editorial

Long COVID: clues about causes

Felicity Liew et al. Eur Respir J. .

Abstract

Many patients report persistent symptoms after resolution of acute COVID-19, regardless of SARS-CoV-2 variant and even if the initial illness is mild [1, 2]. A multitude of symptoms have been described under the umbrella term ‘Long COVID’, otherwise known as ‘post-COVID syndrome’ or ‘post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC)’; for simplicity we will use the term Long COVID. Symptoms are diverse but include breathlessness, fatigue and brain fog, reported to affect up to 69% of cases [3]. Long COVID can be debilitating, 45.2% of patients requiring a reduced work schedule [4]. The WHO estimates that 17 million people in Europe have experienced Long COVID during the first two years of the pandemic [5]. SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to circulate and the risk of post-acute complications remains; a recent study of 56 003 UK patients found that even after Omicron infection, 4.5% suffered persistent symptoms [6]. It is therefore likely that Long COVID will provide a substantial medical and economic burden for the foreseeable future. There is an urgent need to understand mechanisms of disease and develop effective treatments based on this understanding.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: P.J.M. Openshaw reports grants from the EU Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) 2 Joint Undertaking during the submitted work; grants from UK Medical Research Council, GlaxoSmithKline, Wellcome Trust, EU-IMI, UK, National Institute for Health Research, and UK Research and Innovation-Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and personal fees from Pfizer, Nestle, Janssen and Seqirus, outside the submitted work. F. Liew, C. Efstathiou and P.J.M. Openshaw are members of the PHOSP-COVID consortia, a UK-wide study examining long-term health outcomes after hospitalisation with COVID-19.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Common symptoms associated with Long COVID and possible underlying pathophysiology.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • Monocyte migration profiles define disease severity in acute COVID-19 and unique features of long COVID.
    Scott NA, Pearmain L, Knight SB, Brand O, Morgan DJ, Jagger C, Harbach S, Khan S, Shuwa HA, Franklin M, Kästele V, Williams T, Prise I, McClure FA, Hackney P, Smith L, Menon M, Konkel JE, Lawless C, Wilson J, Mathioudakis AG, Stanel SC, Ustianowski A, Lindergard G, Brij S, Diar Bakerly N, Dark P, Brightling C, Rivera-Ortega P, Lord GM, Horsley A; CIRCO; Piper Hanley K, Felton T, Simpson A, Grainger JR, Hussell T, Mann ER. Scott NA, et al. Eur Respir J. 2023 May 11;61(5):2202226. doi: 10.1183/13993003.02226-2022. Print 2023 May. Eur Respir J. 2023. PMID: 36922030 Free PMC article.

References

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