Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Call For 'Long Haul' Covid Patients To Get Dedicated Clinics
CIDRAP: COVID-19 'Long Haulers' Need Dedicated Clinics, Experts Say
The United States should create multispecialty COVID-19 clinics dedicated to treating patients still experiencing serious multiorgan effects of infection well after recovery from acute illness, say the authors of a comprehensive review of literature on so-called coronavirus "long-haulers" published yesterday in Nature Medicine. The exact number of US long-haul COVID-19 cases is unknown, but the researchers said that many patients struggle in silence or become frustrated when their doctors don't consider that their symptoms could be related to their previous infection. (Van Beusekom, 3/23)
CNBC: Lingering Covid Symptoms Pose 'Really Serious Problem,' Researcher Says
A researcher who studies so-called Covid long-haulers warned that lingering symptoms are a grim reality and can pose a serious problem. “We’ve been tracking around 60 distinct symptoms in this patient population,” said David Putrino, the Director of Rehabilitation Innovation at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. “We really just need to focus on helping these patients and spreading awareness that this is, indeed, a really serious problem associated with Covid.” (DeCiccio, 3/23)
NBC News: 'Brain Fog' And Other Neurologic Symptoms Can Last For Months After Covid
Ongoing, and in some cases debilitating, problems with thinking affect a large majority of Covid-19 patients who were never sick enough to be hospitalized, according to a study published Tuesday in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. The research, from Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, is based on an analysis of 100 Covid-19 "long-hauler" patients whose symptoms have lasted at least six weeks. All originally had a mild illness: sore throat, cough, low-grade fever. (Edwards, 3/23)
