Long COVID and its Management

Abstract

The pandemic of COVID-19 is the biggest public health crisis in 21 st Century. Besides the acute symptoms after infection, patients and society are also being challenged by the long-term health complications associated with COVID-19, commonly known as long COVID. While health professionals work hard to find proper treatments, large amount of knowledge has been accumulated in recent years. In order to deal with long COVID efficiently, it is important for people to keep up with current progresses and take proactive actions on long COVID. For this purpose, this review will first introduce the general background of long COVID, and then discuss its risk factors, diagnostic indicators and management strategies. This review will serve as a useful resource for people to understand and prepare for long COVID that will be with us in the foreseeable future.

Close Contacts, Infected Cases, and the Trends of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Epidemic in Shenzhen, China

“…A recent study developed a perdition model and concluded that the Omicron variant would cause substantial surges in hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths, and would overwhelm the healthcare system; in fact, the Omicron wave would lead to approximately 1.55 million deaths if the dynamic zero-COVID strategy were rejected [ 17 ]. Moreover, besides the acute symptoms related to the infection, the long-term health complications of COVID-19, namely long COVID, is also a big challenge for the public health community [ 18 , 19 , 20 ].…”

Endothelial Dysfunction in COVID-19: Potential Mechanisms and Possible Therapeutic Options

“…Long COVID reflects chronic damage to multi-systemic organs [ 128 ]. The main pulmonary outcomes are dyspnea, ventilator and/or oxygen requirement, pulmonary function test (PFT) abnormalities and fibrotic lung disease [ 129 , 130 ]. Furthermore, hypercoagulability predisposes the patient to the risk of thrombosis within the small vessels of the pulmonary vasculature [ 129 , 131 ].…”

“…The main pulmonary outcomes are dyspnea, ventilator and/or oxygen requirement, pulmonary function test (PFT) abnormalities and fibrotic lung disease [ 129 , 130 ]. Furthermore, hypercoagulability predisposes the patient to the risk of thrombosis within the small vessels of the pulmonary vasculature [ 129 , 131 ]. Cardiovascular system sequelae include interstitial inflammatory infiltration, myocardial hypertrophy and necrosis [ 106 ], as well as myositis, cell death and, finally, fibrosis with the consequent increased risk of arrhythmias.…”

“…In conclusion, the most frequent lingering symptoms are fatigue, muscle pain, palpitations, cognitive impairment, dyspnea, anxiety, chest pain and arthralgia [ 129 ].…”

The global battle against SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 at the third year

“…Indeed, it is known that SARS-CoV-2 infection could also cause many other long-term effects, collectively called "Long COVID". Koc et al 16 reviewed the general background of Long COVID, and discussed its risk factors, diagnostic indicators and management strategies. Park et al 17 reviewed anosmia, i.e., impairment of smell caused by olfactory dysfunctions, which is a common symptom of the Long COVID.…”