A child wears a face mask to protect from and prevent the spread of coronavirus in New York City in November 2020, by which time the United States had surpassed 11 million coronavirus cases. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
A medical specialist escorts a patient to the hospital complex for patients with COVID-19 in the Kommunarka settlement in New Moscow, Russia, in October 2020. File Photo by Maxim Shipenkov/EPA-EFE
A refrigerated truck is parked outside of Lenox Health Greenwich Village emergency Room in New York City , in May 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic had killed over 20,000 people in New York City and accounted for over 280,00 deaths worldwide. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Health staff attends to a COVID-19 patient at the Saint Georges Hospital of Hezbollah in Beirut, Lebanon, in January 2021. File Photo by Nabil Mounzer/EPA-EFE
COVID-19 patients receive free oxygen provided by a Gurudwara, A Sikh Temple in Ghaziabad, India's Uttar Pradesh State on May 1. Photo by Abhishek/UPI | License Photo
As researchers work to learn more about COVID-19 and so-called long-haulers, a new study suggests "brain fog" can persist and even worsen for those who were infected months before.
Long-haulers continue to have symptoms long after their COVID diagnosis, and these symptoms can be mental as well as physical.
"People have trouble problem-solving, or they get in the car and forget where they're supposed to be going," said study author Leonard Jason, a psychologist at DePaul University in Chicago.
The researchers compared long-haulers' complaints with those with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS.
Patients with ME/CFS have long-term symptoms possibly triggered by the Epstein-Barr virus or for other unknown reasons.
The team defined long-haul COVID-19 as having serious, prolonged symptoms three months after contracting the virus.
The study included 278 long-haul COVID-19 patients who were asked about their symptoms at two points, six months apart.
Researchers also surveyed more than 500 ME/CFS patients about their symptoms, which have significant overlap with COVID-19.
At the six-month mark, COVID long-haulers reported worse neurocognitive symptoms than at the outset of their illness. This including trouble forming words, difficulty focusing and absent-mindedness.
Still, these symptoms were ranked less severe than those associated with ME/CFS.
Most other long-haul symptoms, including sleep problems, immune-related issues, pain and gastrointestinal issues, seemed to improve over time.
For both groups, the most severe symptom was malaise after exertion, which includes feeling physically and mentally drained or heavy.
Both sets of patients face similar challenges as their family members and health care workers may not understand the changing symptoms, according to the researchers.
"We don't know how many long-haulers will stay on this type of trajectory," said Jason, who is director of the Center for Community Research at DePaul.
He and other researchers estimate about 10% of people who have COVID-19 become long-haulers.
A review of past literature suggests that previous pandemics, including the 1918 Spanish flu, also led to long-term fatigue for many patients.
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke provided funding for this research. Findings were published online recently in the journal Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health & Behavior.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on long-haul COVID.
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JimWilliams423 on May 27th, 2021 at 14:49 UTC »
UPI is not a reliable source. They are owned by the reactionary religious cult that calls itself "The Unification Movement" who are commonly referred to as "moonies" after the founder Sun Myung Moon.
From their own About page:
From the Dun & Bradstreet business profile of News World Communications:
EdenEvelyn on May 27th, 2021 at 14:36 UTC »
The symptoms of long-haul COVID are essentially the same as chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis. Most cases of CFS/ME are thought to be triggered by an injury or infection, maybe now that there’s more of a spotlight on the disease it’ll actually be researched and taken seriously by those in the medical community. It’s an incredibly difficult thing to live with.
RyokoLeigh on May 27th, 2021 at 13:53 UTC »
I got vaccinated for this very reason. I have adhd so brain fog is already part of the package. When I got COVID last month my confusion and lack of focus was majorly amplified.