Click Here to Download this Blog Post – Long COVID 2025 Part 4
Dr. Nicholas L. DePace, M.D., F.A.C.C.
This is Part 4 of a 5 Part Series about Redefinition of Long COVID
Not everyone is at risk of long Covid, although anyone can get it. People at higher risk, according to the committee, were female sex, repeated infections, and more severe infections.
Alarmingly, it is estimated that from death certificates through 2023, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that approximately 5000 patients in the United States have died from long Covid or from a condition in which long Covid was a contributing cause. This number is probably much higher, in our opinion.
A very general definition of long Covid, states that it occurs three months as a continuous relapsing and remitting or progressive disease that affects one or more organ symptoms after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. It can manifest in many ways, including singular or multiple symptoms that were described above. To repeat, shortness of breath, cough, persistent fatigue, post-exertional malaise, difficulty concentration, memory change, recurring headache, lightheadedness, a fast heart rate, sleep disturbance, problems with taste or smell, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea. Singular or multiple diagnosed conditions may result consisting of interstitial lung disease with low oxygen or hypoxemia, cardiac arrhythmia, such as atrial fibrillation, cognitive impairment that does not improve, mood disorders, anxiety, migraine, stroke, blood clots, chronic kidney disease, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and other forms of dysautonomia, chronic fatigue syndrome, mast cell syndromes, fibromyalgia, connective tissue disorders, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and autonomic immune disease, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjögren syndrome.
There have also been articles reporting increased incidences of ANA in people with long Covid syndrome, especially females. We have not seen this in our testing of our patients. We have not identified any autoimmune marker that is unique or specific for patients with long Covid syndromes. However, we do agree with the symptom complex that the committee has set forth in the three-month cutoff that they have made. We are not sure that long Covid is much different than any long viral or long post-bacterial infection sequelae syndrome in that they all involve autonomic nervous system dysregulation.