Long Covid has more than 200 symptoms, study finds

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The largest ever international study of people with long Covid has identified more than 200 symptoms and prompted researchers to call for a national screening programme.

The study found the myriad symptoms of long Covid – from brain fog and hallucinations to tremors and tinnitus – spanned 10 of the body’s organ systems, and a third of the symptoms continued to affect patients for at least six months.

A national screening programme would help produce a better understanding of how many people are affected and the kind of support they would need, the researchers said.

The researchers also called for the clinical guidelines for assessing patients with suspected long Covid to be widened beyond cardiovascular and lung-function tests.

Athena Akrami, a neuroscientist at University College London, and senior author of the study, said: “A lot of post-Covid clinics in the UK have focused on respiratory rehabilitation. It’s true that a lot of people have shortness of breath, but they also have a lot of other problems and types of symptoms that the clinics need to provide a more holistic approach to.”


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