Summary: Although long COVID (LC) has varied presentations, but one of the latest studies shows that pain remains the most common complaint in those experiencing the condition. Pain is the primary complaint of one-third of those living with LC. Further, symptoms like pain are worse in older adults, females, and non-white individuals.
Long COVID (LC) is a complex phenomenon that is still not fully understood by science. Science still cannot say why some people who have made a full recovery from COVID continue to feel unwell for a long, often for months.
Even diagnosing the condition is quite challenging due to its varied presentation. This means that the condition presents itself differently in most patients. Some patients may complain about constant body aches, while others may report fatigue, brain fog, chest pain, or shortness of breath. In fact, science has identified more than 100 symptoms of the condition. Chronic pain specialists are finding that pain remains one of the primary challenges in managing these patients.
It appears that LC is not a rare condition. Studies report that 10-30% of non-hospitalized patients develop LC, whereas these figures are at 70% for hospitalized patients. What is worrisome is that even about 10% of vaccinated individuals may develop the condition.
It is not uncommon for people to continue experiencing some issues after recovering from various viral infections like colds and flu. However, LC is different, as it continues to affect individuals formonths after the full recovery. Not only that, but in some people, these symptoms may progress and keep worsening.
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Even after so many years, understanding LC is still a work in progress. This is mainly due to its varied presentation. Nevertheless, it is now recognized as a common health condition in those who have recovered from the infection. However, diagnosing the condition still remains challenging due to very vague presentation. Patients who are living with LC often complain about issues like pain and fatigue, but then these symptoms may be present in many other health conditions. However, one of the new studies published in JRSM Open says that pain is the primary symptom of the condition.
This new study was a retrospective study. This means that researchers analyzed the data of patients who had recovered from COVID but had complaints related to LC. They analyzed the data of 1008 individuals with a clinically confirmed diagnosis of LC, and they had many interesting findings.
Of the 109 symptoms for which they analyzed the patient data, they found that pain was the single most common complaint present in 26.5% of patients. Other common complaints were neurophysiological issues (18.4%), fatigue (14.3%), and difficulty breathing (7.4%). Moreover, they noted that the intensity of symptoms increased each month after making complete recovery from COVID.
As expected, researchers found that LC is much more common in older patients compared to young individuals. However, they also found that LC was more likely to occur in non-white patients, which may point to prevailing health disparities in the UK. Additionally, women were more likely to experience intense symptoms compared to men.
So, this study highlights that pain is very common in LC. It is more likely to occur in females, older patients, and non-white individuals. These factors must be considered when managing this population group. Interventional pain management can make use of this information and make strategies that particularly will be beneficial in addressing the chronic pain associated with LC, ensuring that a more targeted approach is used for those affected.
The present study did have certain limitations as it did not focus on the cause of higher pain symptoms in specific population groups, why the pain was so common in LC, and the mechanism behind it. Nevertheless, these findings highlight the role of pain management in those who have recovered from COVID.
Of course, LC is a complex issue, and patients have multiple health complaints, which means that each patient is unique. Thus, managing LC requires a personalized approach to each patient. Considering the chronicity of the condition, lifestyle interventions also have a particular role in managing the condition along with medications.
Source:
Sunkersing, D., Goodfellow, H., Mu, Y., Ramasawmy, M., Murali, M., Adams, L., FitzGerald, T. J., Blandford, A., Stevenson, F., Bindman, J., Robson, C., & Banerjee, A. (2024). Long COVID symptoms and demographic associations: A retrospective case series study using healthcare application data. JRSM Open, 15(7), 20542704241274292. https://doi.org/10.1177/20542704241274292
