News: New broad definition of long COVID issued by National Academies
On June 11, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released a new broadly inclusive definition of long COVID, with the goal of improving consistency, documentation, and treatment for both adults and children. The definition states that “long COVID is an infection-associated chronic condition that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is present for at least 3 months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems,” Medscape Medical News reported.
Recent surveys suggest that approximately 7% of Americans have experienced or are experiencing long COVID. In their news release, NASEM stated that people with long COVID may present with one or more of a long list of symptoms and diagnosable conditions, such as:
- Shortness of breath
- Rapid heartbeat
- Extreme fatigue
- Post-exertional malaise
- Sleep disturbance
- Interstitial lung disease
- Arrhythmias
- Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome
- Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
- Diabetes
- Autoimmune disorders
The definition states that long COVID can follow SARS-CoV-2 infection of any severity (including asymptomatic infections) whether or not they were initially recognized and can exacerbate preexisting health conditions or present as new ones. The definition does not require laboratory confirmation or other proof of initial infection.
This “does not erase the problem of clinical judgment […] but we think this definition has the real advantage of elevating to the clinician's mind the real likelihood in the current environment of prevalence of this virus that a presenting patient's strange symptoms are both real and maybe related as an expression of long COVID,” panel chair Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, told Medscape Medical News.
Editor’s note: To read Medscape Medical News’ coverage of this story, click here. To read the NASEM news release, click here.