New Delhi: Nearly 70% of people with long Covid experience symptoms in the second year, similar to those reported in the first year after infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a study by researchers at Ulm University, Germany.
The population-based case-control study involved 982 individuals aged 18-65 diagnosed with self-assessed long Covid, compared with 576 control participants without the condition. Findings, published in PLoS Medicine, revealed that 35.6% of long Covid patients suffered from post-exertional malaise, or exercise intolerance. Additionally, 11.6% exhibited symptoms aligned with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, and 67.6% of participants had persistent symptoms.
While 32% of long Covid patients reported some initial improvement, the majority did not fully recover. Patients showed reduced handgrip strength, lower maximal oxygen consumption, and impaired ventilatory efficiency, indicating a diminished capacity for oxygen exchange. Breathlessness was a moderate-to-severe symptom in nearly half of the cases.
The study noted that fatigue, exercise intolerance, and cognitive deficits remained prominent long Covid symptoms, with no major pathological findings in laboratory tests. Lead researcher Raphael S. Peter emphasized that symptoms persisted without significant improvement for most patients over two years.
Further analysis revealed that long Covid patients were more likely to be obese, with higher average body mass index and body fat levels, and had lower educational attainment compared to the control group.
In a separate study conducted in Italy and published in Pediatric Research, researchers explored the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to detect a "long Covid molecular signature" in blood samples. The AI model, based on protein profiling, demonstrated an accuracy of 0.93 in identifying long Covid. This approach could pave the way for more precise diagnosis of the condition, which currently lacks standardized diagnostic criteria.
The findings underscore the prolonged impact of long Covid on physical health and quality of life, highlighting the need for targeted interventions and improved diagnostic tools to manage the condition effectively.