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Review
. 2023 Sep 12;147(1):6-19.
doi: 10.1093/bmb/ldad016.

Long COVID: what is known and what gaps need to be addressed

Benjamin Krishna  1   2 , Mark Wills  1   2 , Nyaradzai Sithole  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Long COVID: what is known and what gaps need to be addressed

Benjamin Krishna et al. Br Med Bull. .

Abstract

Introduction: Long COVID is a chronic condition that follows after acute COVID-19 and is characterized by a wide range of persistent, cyclic symptoms.

Sources of data: PubMed search for publications featuring 'Long COVID' or 'post-acute sequelae of COVID-19'.

Areas of agreement: Long COVID occurs frequently post-acute COVID-19, with a majority of people experiencing at least one symptom (such as cough, fatigue, myalgia, anosmia and dyspnoea) 4 weeks after infection.

Areas of controversy: The specific symptoms and the minimum duration of symptoms required to be defined as Long COVID.

Growing points: There is a consistent reduction in Long COVID incidence amongst vaccinated individuals, although the extent of this effect remains unclear.

Areas timely for developing research: There is an urgent need to understand the causes of Long COVID, especially extreme fatigue more than 6 months after infection. We must understand who is at risk and whether reinfections similarly risk Long COVID.

Keywords: Long COVID; PASC; causes; symptoms; treatments.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no potential conflicts of interest.

References

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    1. Davis HE, Assaf GS, McCorkell L, et al. Characterizing Long COVID in an international cohort: 7 months of symptoms and their impact. EClinicalMedicine 2021;38:101019. - PMC - PubMed
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