Some individuals who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 can experience long-term effects from their infection, known as post-COVID conditions, post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 or long COVID. Different underlying mechanisms can lead to long COVID, none of which are mutually exclusive. Lingering symptoms can persist years after SARS-CoV-2 infection, including fatigue, muscle weakness, tachycardia, dyspnea and various neurological symptoms. The symptomatology is partly similar to that reported by people with chronic fatigue syndrome and other unwell studied long-lasting diseases that may occur after other infections. People who have experienced more severe COVID-19 illness are at higher risk of developing long COVID, although anyone who was infected can experience post-COVID conditions. Importantly, unvaccinated individuals are more likely to develop long COVID. Here we review the current knowledge and discuss key findings regarding the epidemiology and physiopathology of long COVID. We briefly review current diagnostic and treatment options that remain so far largely insufficient.
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Gut Microbes
December 2025
Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Post-acute coronavirus disease 2019 syndrome (PACS), following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is typically characterized by long-term debilitating symptoms affecting multiple organs and systems. Unfortunately, there is currently a lack of effective treatment strategies. Altered gut microbiome has been proposed as one of the plausible mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of PACS; extensive studies have emerged to bridge the gap between the persistent symptoms and the dysbiosis of gut microbiome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJAMA Netw Open
January 2025
RAND Health, RAND, Boston, Massachusetts.
Importance: Long-term nursing home stay or death (long-term NH stay or death), defined as new long-term residence in a nursing home or death following hospital discharge, is an important patient-centered outcome.
Objective: To examine whether the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with changes in long-term NH stay or death among older adults with sepsis, and whether these changes were greater in individuals from racial and ethnic minoritized groups.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study used patient-level data from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review File, the Master Beneficiary Summary File, and the Minimum Data Set.
Immun Inflamm Dis
January 2025
Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Background: Long COVID, a heterogeneous condition characterized by a range of physical and neuropsychiatric presentations, can be presented with a proportion of COVID-19-infected individuals.
Methods: Transcriptomic data sets of those within gene expression profiles of COVID-19, long COVID, and healthy controls were retrieved from the GEO database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) falling under COVID-19 and long COVID were identified with R packages, and contemporaneously conducted module detection was performed with the Modular Pharmacology Platform (http://112.
Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci
January 2025
Institute of Psychiatric Phenomics and Genomics (IPPG), LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
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