Long COVID Diagnosis & Treatment: Many US Physicians Have Doubts
For the estimated 23 million Americans who have developed symptoms of long COVID, the end of the country’s Public Health Emergency on May 11 will not bring relief. Moreover, in the months ahead, many more individuals will be diagnosed as having 1 or more of the approximately 203 symptoms that characterize the condition. The most common of those include shortness of breath, physical exhaustion and exercise intolerance, and “brain fog.”
The US health care provider community continues to do its collective best to cope with the protean condition. A poll by the de Beaumont Foundation in late 2022 found that three-quarters of physician respondents said the condition is a problem, but only 7% report being “very confident” about diagnosing long COVID and only 4% expressed that level of confidence in treating it. More clinician thoughts follow in this topline look at the poll findings.
The public health burden is a global one; one recent review of studies from 22 countries by the Global Burden of Disease Long COVID Collaborators estimated that 6.2% of all people who have had symptomatic COVID-19 infections reported at least 1 of 3 long COVID symptoms 3 months after the infection had resolved.
Long COVID is a problem in the US and physicians are more likely than adult patients to agree with the statement.
Research funding for long COVID is considered somewhat or very important by both physicians (82%) and other adults (76%).
Long COVID is understood as a recognizable clinical diagnosis by nearly three-quarters of physicians but less than two-thirds of other adults.
Overall, physicians are far from confident in their skills/ability to diagnose adn to treat long COVID.
Primary care clinicians are more likely than other clinicians to say they recognize the disorder as a clinical Dx, to have treated patients wtih long COVID, and to have read up on the research.
Many individuals who have been diagnosed by a health care provider as having long COVID report not being believed or worrying that they won't be.
