Study reveals new insight into ‘Long COVID’

STATE — Initial findings from a study of nearly 10,000 Americans, including those in Maine, indicate that certain symptoms of long COVID occur together and that long COVID was more common and severe in study participants infected before the 2021 Omicron variant. The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and has been published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. It was co-authored by Ivette Emery, PhD, a translation scientist at the MaineHealth Institute for Research (MHIR).

These findings come from the NIH’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative, a nationwide effort dedicated to understanding why some people develop long-term symptoms following COVID-19, and most importantly, how to detect, treat and prevent long COVID. The goal is to eventually find potential treatments for long COVID. Clinical symptoms can vary and include fatigue, brain fog and dizziness, and last for months or years after a person has had COVID-19.

“Americans living with long COVID want to understand what is happening with their bodies,” said Adm. Rachel L. Levine, MD, Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “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.”