Vaccine helping to prevent Long COVID-19
By L. M. Land
COVID-19 health and education are an important topic to me, because I have personally seen so much tragedy unfold since COVID-19s onset. I was in Italy when it started in February 2020, and I watched with surprise and fear how in two weeks the virus shut down major cities. I left three days before all of Europe shut down.
I watched it spread again in the United States. I was the first person tested for COVID-19 at McLaren Medical Center. I watched helplessly as friends and family became ill and/or died.
Some of my friends stayed sick for two years. They were left with what is now called long COVID. At first, their doctors did not believe they were still sick.
No one anticipated long COVID
Long COVID was a surprise. It took time to evaluate whether the same problem was happening globally, as symptoms are different with each person. No one knows exactly how many people have long COVID, although one study estimates 65 million people worldwide have it! The actual number is likely higher.
Long COVID research is ongoing, and just days ago, on June 21, 2023, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), issued a new medical advisory: Identification and Management of Mental Health Symptoms and Conditions Associated with Long COVID-19 Identification and Management of Mental Health Symptoms and Conditions Associated with Long COVID-19.
Long COVID was found in the following populations:
- Vaccinated population: 10–12% of known long COVID cases.
- Non-hospitalized population: 10–30% of known long COVID cases.
- Hospitalized population: 50–70 percent of known Long COVID cases.
Current thought is that vaccines seem to reduce your risk of having long COVID.
What is long COVID?
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines long COVID as “the continuation or development of new symptoms three months after the initial infection, with these symptoms lasting for at least two months with no other explanation.”
Illness developing after an initial COVID-19 infection can affect any organ system. Long COVID can manifest as a new onset disease, such as heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, mental and neurologic conditions and more.
What are long COVID symptoms/conditions?
The signs, symptoms and conditions vary from the physical to the mental:
- Presents four weeks or more after the initial phase of infection in multiple bodily systems.
- May present with a relapse pattern, worsening over time, with the possibility of severe and life-threatening events months or years after infection.
- It is not one condition. It represents many potentially overlapping symptoms with different biological causes and different sets of risk factors and outcomes.
- The mental health conditions include, but are not limited to, depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment (brain fog), sleep disturbances and fatigue.
- Physical symptoms may include fatigue, difficulty breathing, coughing, chest pain, dizziness, stomach pain, joint pain and headaches.
- There are up to 200 known symptoms.
- No laboratory test can definitively distinguish post-COVID-19 conditions from other causes.
Is long COVID-19 happening less frequently?
Studies are showing that long COVID is not reported in 2023 as frequently. There seems to be several reasons, but no study is conclusive yet.
Vaccination is seen as one of the leading reasons there is less long COVID. Another theory is that Omicron does not attack organs as much as other COVID-19 strains. Or, long COVID could be a re-infection. Studies are ongoing.
Long COVID issues affect individual health, the healthcare system and the economy.
Roughly one million workers may be out of the workforce at any given time due to long COVID. This figure equates to approximately $50 billion dollars annually in lost salary.
A recent CDC mathematical modeling study estimated that millions of U.S. adults have long-term symptoms that limit their daily activities after infection.
Recent studies show that women are impacted more than men.
Racial disparities in long COVID are mostly unexplored, but are expected to mimic COVID-19 statistics. There have been disproportionately worse COVID-19-related outcomes for people from racial and ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities and for older people. American Indian or Alaska Native persons are at highest risk for COVID-19 hospitalization and death.
If you believe you may be experiencing long COVID, please see your doctor.
References:
Identification and Management of Mental Health Symptoms and Conditions Associated with Long COVID-19.
The National Research Action Plan on Long COVID-19-PDF
https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/long-COVID-19- symptoms
https://www.science.org/content/article/people-catch-omicron-are-less-likely-get-long-COVID-19al R
Services and Supports for Longer-term Impacts of COVID-19 –PDF
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