As Their Numbers Grow, COVID-19 “Long Haulers” Stump Experts | Infectious Diseases | JAMA

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  • As Their Numbers Grow, #COVID-19 “Long Haulers” Stump Experts | Infectious Diseases | JAMA | JAMA Network
    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2771111

    Overall, approximately 10% of people who’ve had COVID-19 experience prolonged symptoms, a UK team estimated in a recently published Practice Pointer on postacute COVID-19 management. And yet, the authors wrote, primary care physicians have little evidence to guide their care.

    Adults with severe illness who spend weeks in intensive care, often intubated, can experience long-lasting symptoms, but that’s not unique to patients with COVID-19. What’s unusual about the long haulers is that many initially had mild to moderate symptoms that didn’t require lengthy hospitalization—if any—let alone intensive care.

    “Most of the patients that I see who are suffering from [#post–COVID-19] syndrome were not hospitalized,” Jessica Dine, MD, a pulmonary specialist at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, said in an interview. “They were pretty sick, but still at home.”