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Showing results for tags 'Long Covid'.
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Content ArticleA recent NIHR report sets out the state of knowledge on Long Covid, focussing on recent published research framed around questions of the nature and causes of Long Covid and approaches to treatment. Symptoms might include, but not be limited to brain fog, anxiety, breathlessness, fatigue, muscle pain, palpitations and chest heaviness. We still know very little about the clusters and patterns of these symptoms and what this might mean for ongoing treatment and monitoring. In this article, Tara Lamont emphasises the importance of people with Long Covid being involved in these studies pushing these issues to the forefront.
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Content ArticleThis leaflet offers guidance for workers from Occupational Health Professionals on how to manage getting back to work after COVID-19 infection and Long COVID.
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News ArticleArianna Eisenberg endured long-haul COVID-19 for eight months, a recurring nightmare of soaking sweats, crushing fatigue, insomnia, brain fog and muscle pain. But Eisenberg’s tale has a happy ending that neither she nor current medical science can explain. Thirty-six hours after her second shot of coronavirus vaccine last month, her symptoms were gone, and they haven’t returned. “I really felt back to myself,” the 34-year-old Brooklyn therapist said, “to a way that I didn’t think was possible when I was really sick.” Some people who have spent months suffering from long-haul COVID-19 are taking to social media to report their delight at seeing their symptoms disappear after their vaccinations, leaving experts chasing yet another puzzling clinical development surrounding the disease caused by the coronavirus. “The only thing that we can safely assume is that an unknown proportion of people who acquire SARS-CoV-2 have long-term symptoms,” said Steven Deeks, an infectious-disease physician at the University of California at San Francisco. “We know the questions. We have no answers. Hard stop.” Read full story Source: The Washington Post, 16 March 2021
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Content ArticleCOVID-19 presents many challenges to healthcare systems internationally, none more so than the significant reporting among healthcare workers (HCWs) of occupational fatigue and burnout or Long COVID related symptoms. Consensus on the extent of HCW fatigue during the pandemic remains largely unknown, as levels of Long COVID related fatigue in HCWs appears to be on the rise. What is known is that, among current levels, impacts of fatigue on HCW well-being and performance is likely. Developing strategies to mitigate fatigue are the responsibilities of all healthcare system stakeholders. Leadership that goes beyond organisational efforts of mitigating fatigue through mandated working hour limits alone are needed.
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Content ArticleThis report from Long Covid Support summarises patient's experiences of Long Covid.
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News ArticleLasting effects of infection from coronavirus are more common in women and children than expected, with at least 10% of people infected suffering persistent symptoms for months, a new review has found. Experts at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) examined more than 300 separate scientific studies for the analysis. It found many patients reported struggling to access testing and help from the NHS to treat their symptoms, which varied between patients, suggesting long Covid is a group of four possible syndromes affecting patients differently. The report said: “Long Covid appears to be more frequent in women and in young people (including children) than might have been expected,” adding other sufferers could be experiencing an active disease, impacting on their organs and causing debilitating symptoms that would need ongoing treatment. In some patients, the effects included neurological changes in their brains while others showed signs of blood clotting and inflammation. Other patients reported anxiety, fatigue and damage to their lungs and heart. It also warned there was evidence some long Covid patients could actually be getting worse, underlining the need to invest in services that will be needed to cope with what could be a long term problem. Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 March 2021
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Event
COVERSCAN Q&A
Sam posted an event in Community Calendar
untilPerspectum has launched the first study to map how COVID-19 impacts the health of multiple organs and identify at-risk features for the virus, with detailed cross-sectional imaging and genetic studies. This study is on the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Portfolio. Join COVERSCAN for the next live Q&A webinar. Any questions you'd like answered, send to: Perspectum.Communications@perspectum.com Register for study participant Q&A -
News ArticleAs the UK looks to mark the first anniversary of the first COVID-19 lockdown on 23 March, Sky News has spoken to one family who say they have lived constantly with the after effects of the virus for a year. Charlie, 37, her husband Zed, 41, and their five children – Nico, 15, Beck, 12, Indiana, 10, Emmett, 8, and Mimi, 5 – fell ill with the virus in March last year. All of them – particularly the children – have been suffering ever since. Charlie said the list of symptoms is "extensive", including headaches, eye issues, nose bleeds, body rashes, horrific tummy pains, gastric issues, severe lethargy, allergic reactions, peeling hands, and feet and mouth ulcers. "It's such a long list that at times you can't believe that they've all been related to this illness," Charlie said. The family have been getting help from a support group, Long COVID Kids, which wants specialist clinics to be set up for children with the condition. Charlie said the ordeal the family has been through "really made me question my sanity at times". She added: "Long COVID centres are being set up, but they're not for children, so there is nowhere for them to be referred to. I'm really worried about the long-term health issues." Read full story Source: Sky News, 13 March 2021
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Content ArticleThis preprint study (not yet peer reviewed) provides further evidence on Long COVID in children. An anonymous, online survey was developed by an organisation of parents of children suffering from persisting symptoms since initial infection. Parents were asked to report signs and symptoms, physical activity and mental health issues. Only children with symptoms persisting for more than four weeks were included. Symptoms like fatigue, headache, muscle and joint pain, rashes and heart palpitations, and mental health issues like lack of concentration and short memory problems, were particularly frequent and confirm previous observations, suggesting that they may characterise this condition. Authors conclude that a better comprehension of Long COVID is urgently needed.
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Content ArticleOn Wednesday 10 March the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee of the Senedd Cymru - Welsh Parliament held an evidence session on Long COVID. They heard from the patient group Long COVID Wales, academics and professional bodies.
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Content ArticleThis report from the Tony Blair Institute looks at progress made in they released a report in October 2020 which set out a series of recommendations on how the government should respond to Long COVID. These recommendations covered: addressing the need for further research on Long COVID launching an awareness campaign improving diagnosis of Long COVID putting in place specialist support for sufferers using the COVID Symptom Study data to screen for those likely to develop Long COVID. This latest report, A long-term plan for Long Covid, includes: more detail on the recommendations made an update on what has happened in each area where appropriate, what more could be done.
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News Article
People with long Covid urgently need help. Why can't we access it?
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Joanna Herman, a consultant in infectious diseases, had high hopes when Boris Johnson announced £10m for long Covid clinics. Five months on, she is yet to be referred to one. "Despite the government recently giving £18.5m research funding for the disease, it feels as though all focus is now on the vaccine and the lifting of lockdown, while those living with long Covid have been largely forgotten," says Joanna. Her initial illness was, by definition, a mild case of Covid: no hospital admission and no risk factors for severe disease. Months later she found herself experiencing crashing post-exertional fatigue, sporadic chest pains and a brain that felt it was only half functioning. And she is not alone. According to a study published last September from researchers at King’s College London, 60,000 people in the UK were likely to have been suffering from long Covid. The actual number is now probably far higher. There are now 69 long Covid clinics up and running across the country, according to the NHS England website. Yet Joanna has not been able to access one – and neither have others she knows with long Covid. Joanna asked doctors in her field what was happening with long Covid clinics in their local areas. She contacted 18 infectious disease colleagues based in teaching hospitals around the country. Of the 16 who responded, 6 had formal long Covid clinics. Some said that provision for the disease was woefully inadequate, while others reported they only saw only patients who had been admitted to hospital with acute COVID-19. In her own local teaching hospital, funding for long Covid patients is scattered across various departments and there is no dedicated team for these patients. "...it feels as though many long-haulers remain in a post-viral sea, looking for a mooring in the hope that something can be offered. We’ve known about this disease since last summer, and it has been officially recognised since October, but we’re only just starting to understand how to support those living with it" Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 March 2021 -
News Article
'There’s a lot of nasty stuff': the people living with long Covid
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Sufferers say they have had little specialist help despite NHS England setting up dedicated clinics. “It’s not that I feel I have been abandoned, I think that is perfectly obvious,” says Rachel Pope. “If you speak to any long Covid patient, they have been abandoned.” Until exactly a year ago – 5 March 2020 – Pope was “an incredibly fit woman”. A senior lecturer in European prehistory at the University of Liverpool, her work and lifestyle were very active. But after falling ill to Covid, she spent four months unable to walk, then three more when she could manage little more than “a sort of shuffle”. She still has a host of symptoms, “but the most debilitating is the fact that I still can’t do more than 2,000 steps in a day. Until a few weeks ago, I was still choking every day. There’s a lot of nasty stuff that [long Covid sufferers] are living with, without treatment. “It’s not a great situation to be in. I mean, we didn’t die. But this isn’t exactly living either.” A year into the pandemic, accounts such as Pope’s have become dispiritingly familiar, as the experiences of the many thousands who have struggled for months with long Covid, often alone and unsupported, are emerging. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 March 2021 -
Content ArticleThis is a video recording of a oral evidence session of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus into the effects of Long COVID in children. This session took place during Long COVID week (11-15 January 2021), which aimed to highlight the experiences of the hundreds of thousands of people living with Long COVID in the UK.
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News Article
NHS may have to care for ‘a million long Covid patients after pandemic’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A leading doctor has said the NHS should expect to treat up to a million people for long Covid in the aftermath of the pandemic. Long Covid affects about 1 in 10 people of any age infected with coronavirus, and sufferers can experience symptoms including breathlessness, chronic fatigue, brain fog, anxiety and stress for several months after contracting COVID-19. The likelihood of experiencing long-term symptoms does not appear to be linked to the severity of the initial virus and people with mild symptoms at first can still have debilitating long Covid. The absence of long Covid registers makes it difficult to measure the scale of the problem, and major studies into the condition are ongoing in an attempt to identify causes and potential treatments. But one of Britain’s leading doctors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, estimates that about a million people will need care for long Covid as the NHS recovers from the effects of the pandemic. “Although officially about 4 million people have had Covid, in reality, it’s about 8 million or 9 million,” the anonymous doctor told The Guardian. “If 10% of those people have got something, then it could be almost a million people, and that’s enormous.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 7 March 2021 -
News ArticleSome 1 in 10 people still experience persistent ill health 12 weeks after having COVID-19, termed “long COVID” or post-COVID conditions. A new policy brief from the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies documents responses to post-COVID conditions in different countries of the WHO European Region and looks at how sufferers, including medical professionals, are driving some of those responses. Written for decision-makers, this brief summarises what is known about the conditions, who and how many people suffer from them, diagnosis and treatment, and how countries are addressing the issue. Commenting on long COVID, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge said, “COVID-19 has caused a great deal of suffering among people across the Region, with reports of long COVID an extra cause for concern. It’s important that patients reporting with symptoms of long COVID are included as part of the COVID-19 response to mitigate some of the longer-term health impacts of the pandemic. This policy brief makes clear the need for policy-makers to take the lead on this issue.” Read full story Source: WHO, 25 February 2021
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Content ArticleThis World Health Organization (WHO) policy brief highlights areas where policy-makers can take action to meet the challenge of post-Covid conditions based on what is currently known. It addresses the need for multidisciplinary, multispecialty approaches to assessment and management; development of new care pathways and contextually appropriate guidelines for health professionals; and the creation of appropriate services, including rehabilitation and online support tools.
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Event
Health apps for Long COVID self-management
Patient Safety Learning posted an event in Community Calendar
untilIn this webinar, Dr Sam Shah, Chief Clinical Digital Advisor of ORCHA, will be joined by Dr Tom Micklewright to discuss ORCHA's new Health Apps for Long COVID Self-Management report in depth. Helen Hughes, Chief Executive of Patient Safety Learning and member of the NHS England Long COVID taskforce, will join them to discuss what services are being planned and put in place for people with long COVID, what the gaps are in delivering this plan and what patients are looking for. The webinar will: Discuss the findings of ORCHA's Health Apps for Long COVID Self-Management report. Share high scoring apps to help patients self-manage symptoms including fatigue, palpitations, joint pain, depression and insomnia. Examine the services being planned and put in place for long COVID. Conduct a deep-dive into how services can embed five of these apps. Ask the speakers your questions. Register -
News Article
Data on Long Covid in UK children is cause for concern, scientists say
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Scientists have warned that emerging data on Long Covid in children should not be ignored given the lack of a vaccine for this age group, but cautioned that the evidence describing these enduring symptoms in the young is so far uncertain. Recently published data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests that 13% of under 11s and about 15% of 12 to 16 year olds reported at least one symptom five weeks after a confirmed COVID-19 infection. Although children are relatively less likely to become infected, transmit the virus and be hospitalised, the key question is whether even mild or asymptomatic infection can lead to Long Covid in children, said Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London. “The answer is that it certainly can, and the Long Covid support groups contain a not insignificant number of children and teens,” Altmann said. Frances Simpson, a lecturer in psychology at Coventry University and co-founder of the Long Covid Kids group, said she was very worried about the emerging data on Long Covid in children. “We just think that there should be a much more cautious and curious approach to long Covid rather than a kind of a sweeping generalisation that children are OK, and that we should just let them all go back to school without any measures being put in place.” One issue, she said, is the sizeable gap between acute infection and Long Covid kicking off. Some children are initially asymptomatic or have mild symptoms but then it might be six or seven weeks before they start experiencing long Covid symptoms, which can range from standard post-viral fatigue and headaches to neuropsychiatric symptoms such as seizures, or even skin lesions." At the moment there is no consensus on the scale and impact of long Covid in adults, but emerging data is concerning. For children, the data is even more scarce. Recent reports from hospitals in Sweden and Italy have generated concern, but this data is not from national trials – they are single-centre studies – and include relatively small patient numbers, said Sir Terence Stephenson, a Nuffield professor of child health at University College London. Stephenson was awarded £1.36m last month to lead a study investigating Long Covid in 11- to 17-year-olds. “I don’t have a scientific view on what long Covid is in young people is – because frankly, we don’t know,” he said. Preliminary results are expected in three months. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 March 2021 -
Content ArticleIn this statement, published by the World Health Organization, Professor Martin McKee, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies highlights the importance of working with patients to understand Long COVID. "We need to work with patients and their families to develop new care pathways, including rehabilitation and online support tools. We need to look at employment rights, sick pay policies and access to benefit packages for those affected. And we need much more research, again with patients fully involved in deciding what questions to ask and how to answer them." Follow this link to read the full statement.
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News ArticleAmongst the 3.9 million confirmed COVID-19 cases in the UK to date, it is estimated that around one in five people experience symptoms that last for five weeks or longer, and one in ten have symptoms that last for twelve weeks or longer. Termed Long COVID, people report a myriad of symptoms including chronic fatigue, breathlessness, loss of sense of smell, depression and concentration difficulties. Already totalling an estimated 186,000 people, long COVID will bring mounting pressure on primary care services. Within its COVID-19 rapid guideline for managing the long-term effects of COVID-19, NICE recommends health apps as part of giving advice and information on self-management. ORCHA has assessed almost 6,500 health apps to date against more than 350 measures and all major standards. From this research, they identified the top-scoring apps across each of the long COVID symptoms to help primary care, community settings and multidisciplinary assessment and rehabilitation services make informed decisions on the best apps for their patients. Read report
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News Article
One in five Covid survivors experienced hair loss, cohort study finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
One in five people hospitalised with COVID-19 experienced hair loss within six months of first being infected with the virus, a cohort study of patients found. A team of Chinese experts looking into the long-term health consequences of the disease surveyed patients who had been discharged from Jin Yin-tan Hospital in Wuhan last year. Of the 1,655 people who took part 359 (22%) reported losing hair. Fatigue or muscle weakness, difficulty sleeping, smell disorder, anxiety and depression were some of the other most commonly reported symptoms, with a higher percentage of these reported among women. The long-term consequences of Covid-19 after six months remained "largely unclear", the study concluded. Read full story Source: The Independent, 23 February 2021 -
Content ArticleAnti-stay-at-home protesters aren’t the only ones with an argument based on individual rights on their side, writes Graham Mooney, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
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Content ArticlePatient Safety Learning has been raising awareness of the safety concerns surrounding the care and treatment of people with persisting symptoms of COVID-19 long after initial infection, sometimes referred to as "long haulers" or having "Long COVID". We recently published a joint blog with patient group Long Covid Support, outlining our concerns and calling for a more coordinated response, led by a dedicated Long COVID Minister. Yahoo News senior editor Ed Hornick has been fighting the lingering symptoms of COVID-19 for over 10 months. "I have abnormal heart, gastrointestinal, and kidney functioning. I sleep with oxygen. Daily debilitating migraine headaches seem to be at a pain level 12; a noticeable tremor in my left hand comes and goes, and my leg muscles twitch uncontrollably. I get so dizzy from standing up that I nearly pass out. I’m often hit with a sense of jamais vu, the big sister of deja vu. I forget friends’ names and often repeat the same story in a conversation." Follow the link below to read his full story on Yahoo Life.
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Content ArticleOn 21 January 2021, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) published its latest experimental estimates of long COVID symptom prevalence in the general population, using data from 9,063 respondents to the UK Coronavirus Infection Survey (CIS) testing positive for COVID-19 to 14 December 2020. The CIS is a survey sample of respondents randomly selected from the UK population (excluding communal establishments) who are followed-up weekly for the first month from enrolment, followed by monthly for a up to a year. At each visit, respondents are swab tested for COVID-19 and describe their current symptoms (from a list of 12 common COVID-19 symptoms) to the interviewer. The ONS estimated time-to-symptom-discontinuation using survival analysis techniques. Discontinuation was defined as the first post-infection occurrence of the respondent not reporting any symptoms for two consecutive visits (that is, the visit defining the date of discontinuation plus the next one). To allow time from infection to symptom onset, the ONS tracked symptoms reported at the visit where the respondent tested positive for COVID-19 or within the next month.
