ALMOST a third of people who develop long Covid suffer with symptoms such as a headache and depression, a study has found.
Scientists compared the symptoms of patients infected with Covid-19 with those who had also been sick with the flu.
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Long Covid is when people catch the coronavirus and instead of fully recovering, they suffer symptoms for weeks, potentially months, more.
According to the experts, long Covid is the same as “long flu” but more common.
Oxford University scientists found no new symptoms in many people who have coronavirus.
Long-lasting effects appear to be 50 per cent more common after Covid than after flu, they said – but even this could just be because scientists are looking harder.
Professor Paul Harrison, a psychiatrist at Oxford, said: “One of the challenges of thinking about long Covid is which of these symptoms are really directly related to Covid?
“As opposed to being more generalised effects that we can see after a range of health conditions.
“Our data don’t suggest there is anything unique about the long Covid symptoms.”
And Dr Max Taquet added: “It’s a possibility that there are long-term symptoms after the flu that we had overlooked simply because we didn’t have this focus before.”
The 9 most common long Covid symptoms
Over a third of Covid-19 patients are diagnosed with at least one long-Covid symptom.
Below are the most common symptoms and percentages of people who experience them.
- Anxiety/depression – 15%
- Abnormal breathing – 8%
- Abdominal symptoms – 8%
- Other pain – 7%
- Chest/throat pain – 6%
- Fatigue – 6%
- Headache – 5%
- Cognitive problems (‘brain fog’) – 4%
- Myalgia (muscle pain) – 1.5%
- Any of the above features – 37%
Their study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, looked at medical records from 270,000 Covid survivors in the US.
It was found that 36.6% of people had Covid symptoms for at least three months after being tested positive.
This compares to 29% who showed the same symptoms 3 months after getting the flu.
The most common symptoms were anxiety and depression which affected 15% of people. Next came breathing problems which affected 8%.
They included chest pain, brain fog and tiredness as well as headaches and muscles pains.
The Office for National Statistics also conducted a survey of English school pupils and staff. It found that 36% of adults and 12% of children had long Covid.
The report revealed that weakness and tiredness are the most common symptoms, with up to 60% of sufferers suffering from it. Shortness of breath is also common.
Professor Masud Husain, who was involved in the Oxford study, added: “A GP or a doctor will be treating the symptoms in the same way they would if they occurred in another context, like flu, until we have a better understanding of the mechanism.”
It was previously reported that over a million Brits are suffering with long Covid and that cases are rising in children.
Experts believe that you can predict your likelihood of getting long Covid by the symptoms you experience when you first contract it.
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