The Problem with Long-COVID Research No One Talks About
It’s a compilation of conditions, and we can’t be sure who is getting what or even anything at all.
I had a colleague who seemed to suffer from long-Covid two years ago. She had symptoms of fatigue and brain fog, which were severe enough to render her unable to work for months. She’s better now but lamented that she doesn’t feel as energized as before. She’s only 24.
But deep in my mind, I wondered, was it really due to Covid-19?
Long-Covid is diagnosed by the occurrence of any signs and symptoms that persist for ≥12 weeks after an episode of Covid-19, which are unattributable to alternative diagnoses. Questionnaires for diagnosing long-Covid typically ask: “Did you have any symptoms lasting 3 months or longer that you did not have prior to having coronavirus or COVID-19?”
But isn’t such a disease definition vague?
It literally means any or whatever symptoms occurring post-Covid can be attributed to long-Covid, provided no other medical explanations exist. So, if you suddenly develop persistent fatigue and remember you caught Covid-19 a month or two ago, you might be diagnosed with long-Covid.
