Confronting the pathophysiology of Long COVID (BMJ Opinion, December 2020)

Summary

In this opinion piece, authors highlight the growing cohort of patients who are suffering symptoms many months after their initial COVID-19 infection and the increasing demand on GP services.

They also highlight a need for studies that can illuminate the underlying mechanism and for insights into the nature of this condition, how long it’s likely to go on for, what can be done about it, and through which clinical specialties.

"Many estimates of long covid suggest that greater than 10% of acute cases have features that do not resolve over the subsequent months. Extrapolated to the current global burden of covid-19, this suggests potentially over five million current "long haulers"."