Long COVID effects are similar to other lingering illness symptoms

People suffering from long COVID-19 experience lingering negative effects similar to patients who are sick with other illnesses, according to just-released UCLA research.

The findings are based on a comparison of people known to have been COVID infected to people with similar symptoms who tested negative for the respiratory disease. The researchers found that 40 percent of the COVID-positive and 54 percent of the COVID-negative group reported moderate to severe residual symptoms three months after enrolling in the study.

The study's 1,000 participants were 18 years of age or older. Overall, those who tested positive for COVID had self-reported physical and mental health symptoms three months after infection that were similar to those who became ill with other, non-COVID illnesses during the pandemic. 

The COVID-positive group experienced better improvements in their social well-being than did the COVID-negative group, according to the study.    

"Many diseases, including COVID, can lead to symptoms negatively impacting one's sense of well-being lasting months after initial infection, which is what we saw here," said lead author Lauren Wisk, assistant professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

"Because these changes look similar for COVID negative and COVID positive participants, this suggests the experience of the pandemic itself, and related stress, may be playing a role in slowing peoples' recovery from any illness."

The findings highlight the importance of comparing COVID-positive and COVID-negative people to assess the impact of the disease on the population, UCLA said.