Psychiatric problems can last months after infection
MANY sufferers of “long Covid” experience psychiatric problems as well as pain and fatigue, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has warned.
The body, which is drawing up guidelines on how to treat long Covid, wants anyone who appears to still be affected 12 weeks after their first virus symptoms to be diagnosed as having the condition.
Experts said a “sizeable minority” of sufferers could continue to have symptoms after three months, regardless of how severe their original infection was.
New documents setting out the scope of the guidance, being drawn up with the Royal College of GPS, say the diagnosis should be considered when symptoms persist after an acute episode of Covid, regardless of whether the patient has been tested.
While symptoms often overlap, and cluster, just one symptom – such as persistent fever, pain or psychiatric problems – could be enough to consider a diagnosis, the organisations say. Sufferers
have complained of depression, anxiety and a general “brain fog”, which has left some struggling to cope.
The guidance on how to treat the condition will be published by the end of the year.
Nice has published the scope for the guidance, which defines post-covid syndrome, or long Covid, as “signs and symptoms that develop during or following an infection consistent with Covid-19 which continue for more than 12 weeks and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis”.
It says the condition usually presents with clusters of symptoms, often overlapping, which may change over time and can affect any body system.
Paul Chrisp, director of the Centre for Guidelines at Nice, said: “Although most people with Covid-19 will recover completely within a few weeks from the onset of symptoms, we know that a sizeable minority will continue to have symptoms for 12 weeks or more afterwards, regardless of how ill they were initially or whether they were hospitalised. This is a new condition and there is still a lot we don’t know about it.”