How long is Long-COVID? Symptomatic improvement between 12 and 18 months in a prospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

COVID-19 infection can precede, in a proportion of patients, a prolonged syndrome including fatigue, exercise intolerance, mood and cognitive problems. This study aimed to describe the profile of fatigue-related, exercise-related, mood-related and cognitive-related outcomes in a COVID-19-exposed group compared with controls.

Methods

113 serving UK Armed Forces participants were followed up at 5, 12 (n=88) and 18 months (n=70) following COVID-19. At 18 months, 56 were in the COVID-19-exposed group with 14 matched controls. Exposed participants included hospitalised (n=25) and community (n=31) managed participants. 43 described at least one of the six most frequent symptoms at 5 months: fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, joint pain, exercise intolerance and

SUBMITTER: Barker-Davies RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12015064 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature