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Long COVID lasts less than a year, study suggests

By Mallika Marshall, MD

January 12, 2023 / 5:30 PM EST / CBS Boston

BOSTON - A new study may bring some hope to patients experiencing long COVID.

Some people who experience only mild COVID will go on to have symptoms, such as fatigue, that persist even after the initial infection is gone, leaving many to wonder how long will they continue to suffer.

Researchers in Israel studied the health records of nearly two million patients who tested positive for COVID over a 19-month period. They found that most of the symptoms that linger after a mild COVID, including chest pain, cough, muscle aches, and fatigue, tended to fade away within a year.

These symptoms also did not tend to lead to chronic long-term illness and vaccinated patients were less likely to experience shortness of breath.

COVID-19

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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