Defining long COVID: Going back to the start

Nisreen A Alwan; Luke Johnson

doi:10.1016/j.medj.2021.03.003

Defining long COVID: Going back to the start

Med. 2021 May 14;2(5):501-504. doi: 10.1016/j.medj.2021.03.003. Epub 2021 Mar 25.

Authors

Nisreen A Alwan^{1

2

3}, Luke Johnson¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Primary Care, Population Sciences and Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
² NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, UK.
³ NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Wessex, Southampton, UK.

Abstract

"Long COVID" is the condition whereby affected individuals do not recover for several weeks or months following the onset of symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, whether tested or not.¹ The name "long COVID" was created by the people experiencing it in Spring 2020 to describe their journeys of not recovering.² Here, we suggest a way to standardize its definition through outlining what constitutes initial infection with COVID-19.

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / complications
Humans
Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
SARS-CoV-2