NIH-Funded Research Reveals More Data on Long-COVID Symptoms

While long-COVID has become a widely accepted phenomenon, researchers and healthcare professionals still do not clearly understand the condition, its symptoms, and its mechanisms. However, in a recent NIH-funded study, researchers collected more data on long-COVID symptoms, potentially providing insight for future definitions, diagnostics, and treatments.

The study, sponsored by the NIH Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative, analyzed data from 9,764 participants across 85 sites varying from hospitals to community organizations. All patients evaluated in this study were enrolled before April 10, 2023. Those with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection completed a survey six months after the diagnosis via symptoms or positive test.

“Americans living with long COVID want to understand what is happening with their bodies,” said ADM Rachel L. Levine, MD, Assistant Secretary for Health, in the NIH press release. “RECOVER, as part of a broader government response, in collaboration with academia, industry, public health institutions, advocacy organizations, and patients, is making great strides toward improving our understanding of long COVID and its associated conditions.”

Almost 90% of the participants in the study had been infected with the virus, meaning that the control population of patients that did not have COVID-19 was significantly smaller than the experimental group. The researchers assessed roughly 37 post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) for both populations.

An evaluation of the patient populations and their symptoms led researchers to discover 12 signs that were differentiated long-COVID patients. These symptoms included post-exertional malaise, fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, gastrointestinal symptoms, heart palpitations, sexual dysfunction, loss of smell or taste, abnormal thirst, chronic cough, chest pain, and abnormal body movements.

Each symptom was assigned points depending on how unique the sign was. Patients’ PASC scores were calculated by totaling the points for each symptom they presented.

“While the score developed in this study is an important research tool and early step toward diagnosing and monitoring patients with long COVID, we recognize its limitations,” said David C. Goff, MD, PhD, director of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of NIH, and an epidemiology lead for NIH RECOVER, in the NIH release. “All patients suffering from long COVID deserve the attention and respect of the medical field, as well as care and treatment driven by their experiences. As treatments are developed, it will be important to consider the complete symptom profile.”