Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Scientists Find Long Covid's Symptoms May Fade Inside A Year
People experiencing long COVID may see their symptoms ease within a year, per a study published in BMJ medical journal Wednesday. The outcome of this new study may provide some hope for the millions of people left newly disabled during the pandemic with a lingering illness that has no effective treatment. (Habeshian, 1/11)
Since long Covid emerged, how best to define it, predict it, and treat it has been up for debate, but perhaps the most urgent question for patients and providers alike has been how long it lasts. A new study analyzing nearly 2 million patient records in Israel concludes that for most people, the troubling symptoms that persist after a mild Covid infection fade away after about a year. (Cooney, 1/11)
While long COVID can manifest in the body in a myriad of ways 鈥 proving a challenge for doctors to officially diagnose the condition 鈥 new research has categorized four 鈥渕ajor鈥 types of symptoms. (Marnin, 1/11)
Also 鈥
A controversial coronavirus experiment at Boston University has identified a mutation in the omicron variant that might help explain why it doesn鈥檛 appear to be as likely to sicken or kill as the original strain that emerged in China. The finding could offer scientists a new target for designing therapies that limit the severity of covid. (Achenbach, 1/11)
A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies published during the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic provides further evidence that antibiotic use far exceeded the prevalence of bacterial co-infection, researchers reported this week in BMC Infectious Diseases. (Dall, 1/11)
A Johns Hopkins study suggests that mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients who have severe pneumonia and respiratory failure have similar outcomes as those who have other types of pneumonia but required mechanical ventilation longer. (Van Beusekom, 1/11)
University of Vienna researchers used a smartphone app to prompt 711 adults to report data on their mood and stress levels while listening to music during strict lockdowns 5 times a day from Apr 1 to May 8, 2020. Participants used visual analog scales to report their emotions on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 indicating "not at all" and 100 indicating "very much." (Van Beusekom, 1/11)
