4 ms·

I've wondered this too. There are lots of anecdotes about coughs that stay for a long time after a cold or not feeling right for some time after the flu. How mu

I've wondered this too. There are lots of anecdotes about coughs that stay for a long time after a cold or not feeling right for some time after the flu. How much study has there been of these. And frankly, how much of a placebo effect is there? People rush to point out how many (the majority) of vaccine reactions can be explained by placebo / nocebo or just spurious correlation between vaccination and some other event. I agree fully with this, it's common sense. But no doubt it also applies to actual infection. Anything contemporaneous or in the weeks afterwards is going to be "long covid". Have there been any studies that disentangled this somehow?

Baloo 5y ago
I'd be interested to know where these patients predominantly live, is it seen more in urban areas / cities with high levels of air pollution etc
HALtheWise 5y ago
A number of recent studies have investigated whether "long COVID" symptoms are more strongly correlated to a belief that you had COVID or to you actually having COVID. The basic answer seems to be that "Long COVID" is entirely an aftereffect of thinking you had COVID, and it (mostly) doesn't matter whether the patient was actually infected.
- mrlanderson69 5y ago
  Link?
  - HALtheWise 5y ago
    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2787741 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2787741
8bitsrule 5y ago
Good question. My SO and I both got sick with (what we decided was) the flu back in the early 2000s ... and it took us both over a month to feel normal (not continually fatigued) again. I don't think I've ever seen such things addressed anywhere - so maybe this will fix that.
- mikem170 5y ago
  It's my understanding that long covid is not something new and unexpected. Apparently any virus attacking the organs can cause problems. These problems usually go away after some time. Long flu is definitely a thing. I saw a meta study on that and was humbled by how common it could be, even after mild cases. Here's an article talking about the many complaints of such after the 1918 flu [0]. [0] https://time.com/5915616/long-flu-1918-pandemic/ https://time.com/5915616/long-flu-1918-pandemic/

Baloo 5y ago

I'd be interested to know where these patients predominantly live, is it seen more in urban areas / cities with high levels of air pollution etc

HALtheWise 5y ago

A number of recent studies have investigated whether "long COVID" symptoms are more strongly correlated to a belief that you had COVID or to you actually having COVID. The basic answer seems to be that "Long COVID" is entirely an aftereffect of thinking you had COVID, and it (mostly) doesn't matter whether the patient was actually infected.

mrlanderson69 5y ago
Link?
- HALtheWise 5y ago
  https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2787741 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2787741

8bitsrule 5y ago

Good question. My SO and I both got sick with (what we decided was) the flu back in the early 2000s ... and it took us both over a month to feel normal (not continually fatigued) again. I don't think I've ever seen such things addressed anywhere - so maybe this will fix that.

mikem170 5y ago
It's my understanding that long covid is not something new and unexpected. Apparently any virus attacking the organs can cause problems. These problems usually go away after some time. Long flu is definitely a thing. I saw a meta study on that and was humbled by how common it could be, even after mild cases. Here's an article talking about the many complaints of such after the 1918 flu [0]. [0] https://time.com/5915616/long-flu-1918-pandemic/ https://time.com/5915616/long-flu-1918-pandemic/