Long Covid Symptoms Only Last A Few Months, Study Finds

Most people who had a mild Covid infection shouldn’t suffer loss of smell, brain fog or other persistent symptoms for more than a few months.

That’s according to an analysis of the medical records of nearly two million people who were tested for Covid in Israel between March 2020 and October 2021.

It’s one of the longest follow-up studies in patients with mild COVID-19 to date. 

Researchers at the independent non-profit KI Research Institute, in Jerusalem, wanted to specifically address the clinical effects of long Covid a year after mild infection, and how they correlated with age, sex, vaccination status, and COVID-19 variants.

They compared the health of uninfected individuals with those who had recovered from mild COVID-19 for a year after infection. 

They found that vaccinated people were at lower risk of breathing difficulties – the most common symptom after mild infection – compared with unvaccinated cases. 

But both vaccinated and unvaccinated patients had a similar risk for different symptoms associated with long Covid.

Male and female patients showed only minor differences, while children had fewer symptoms than adults after being infected. Findings were also similar across the Alpha and Delta COVID-19 variants. 

Patients who suffered badly and ended up in the hospital were excluded from the study.

“Our study suggests that mild COVID-19 patients are at risk for a small number of health outcomes and most of them are resolved within a year from diagnosis,” said the researchers. 

“Importantly, the risk for lingering dyspnoea (shortness of breath) was reduced in vaccinated patients with breakthrough infection compared with unvaccinated people, while risks of all other outcomes were comparable.”

The findings were published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The BMJ.

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