When do long COVID symptoms go away? What study found

We’ve already learned that the long COVID can last a long time for people after their coronavirus infection, with symptoms lingering weeks or even months later.

Now, for those dealing with the medical phenomenon, a new study published January 11 in the peer-reviewed journal The BMJ offers insight into when symptoms might finally go away – identifying an endpoint for people.

Researchers found that following a mild COVID-19 infection, lingering health effects lasted for months for the majority of people who treated them, but most symptoms resolved within a year, according to the work. conducted in Israel.

The findings came after analyzing the health records of nearly 2 million Israeli patients, vaccinated and unvaccinated, who took a COVID-19 test between March 2020 and October 2021.

Long COVID symptoms were found to be “heavier” in the first six months after infection. Then, they began to subside afterwards, the researchers wrote.

The results suggest “that mild disease does not result in severe or chronic long-term morbidity in the vast majority of patients,” the researchers wrote.

Here’s what else you need to know about the study:

More on research

When the research in Israel was conducted, the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the alpha and delta variants were spreading in Israel, according to the study. Despite the different variations, the study results remained consistent with respect to the long COVID.

Of nearly 2 million patient health records reviewed, researchers compared nearly 300,000 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 — after excluding those who were hospitalized — and nearly 300,000 patients who tested negative.

The study included more than 118,000 patients under the age of 18 who had previously had COVID-19, and the average age of those who tested positive was 25, according to the research.

Among those who tested positive, several long COVID results were reported and were divided into two categories – symptoms reported in the early phase, for one to six months after a positive test, and the late phase, for six months to one year after a positive test. test, according to the study.

In the researchers’ analysis of the data, factors such as patient age and gender, as well as COVID-19 variants, were taken into account.

The study found that during the early and late phases, mild COVID-19 infection led to higher risks of developing loss of smell, taste change, difficulty breathing, brain fog, fatigue and palpitations.

There was also a “significant but lower” risk of having tonsillitis and dizziness during both phases, the researchers wrote.

According to the study, the risks of developing other symptoms such as hair loss, chest pain, cough, sore muscles and breathing problems were only increased during the first six months following a COVID-19 test. 19 positive.

Notably, vaccinated patients infected with COVID-19 had a lower risk of experiencing respiratory disorders but had a “similar risk for other outcomes compared to unvaccinated infected patients,” the authors wrote.

The study also showed that there were only slight differences between men and women when developing long COVID, and that children were less affected by long COVID symptoms during the first six months. months after infection.

For most long-time COVID patients, study author Maytal Bivas-Benita told NBC News “it will get better.”

The study authors wrote that one of the strengths of their research is that it included many younger patients, who they say were “less represented” in previous studies, who had a mild infection in the COVID-19.

They said a limitation of the work was that the long COVID symptoms identified in the study were those reported by patients, not those who had been diagnosed.

What are the chances of developing long COVID?

According to research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in May, about 1 in 5 adults may develop at least one long COVID symptom after an infection.

In late August, the Brookings Institution reported that about 16 million people in the United States between the ages of 18 and 65 would be living with long-term COVID.

The term COVID long was made popular by patients who continued to experience lasting health effects from the virus, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.