February 2025 Newsletter

Numerous long COVID patients are being told that inpatient mental-health care is their best or only option for treatment. Since there are often inconclusive tests for chronic conditions like long COVID, and many of these patients do not outwardly appear unwell, they are often told that their symptoms are in their head. This is a common problem in modern medicine, but a problem larger than individual doctors, says David Putrino, PhD, from Mount Sinai in New York. For example, those with long COVID may benefit from rehabilitative care, but don’t meet the admission care required by hospitals, state regulatory boards, or insurance plans.

Psychiatric care is not always inappropriate for patients with long COVID. Some patients can really benefit from skilled psychological care, even if it’s not the primary, underlying cause of their illness. However, many clinicians fail to differentiate side effects and root causes for long COVID patients.

There’s a long way to go. To this day, medical schools do not teach training about conditions like long COVID. More research on long COVID, and other similar conditions, is absolutely critical so that scientists can develop reliable tests and effective treatments.

There is existing evidence to find that people with metabolic disorders – like diabetes and heart disease – may have a higher risk of long COVID. A new study analyzed long COVID patients and their eating habits, specifically as they relate to the Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet is loaded with healthy fats, lots of fiber and lean protein. It was found that long COVID patients that consumed more of the Mediterranean diet had lower uric acid levels, lower BMI, fewer metabolic syndrome risk factors and higher HDL (beneficial) cholesterol. It’s important to ensure that people with long COVID are getting adequate nutrition, including plenty of protein, and correcting any vitamin deficiencies.

Results of a new study suggest that approximately over one million children are believed to have experienced long COVID. Children between the ages of 12 and 17 were found to be the most likely to have experienced long COVID. Of those experiencing long COVID at the time of the study, up to 80% reported some level of activity limitation compared with before they had COVID-19.
 
Researchers stated that these findings “highlight the need to examine the severity of activity limitation, functional outcomes, and days lost from school” in children. Investigating the effects of long COVID in children is proving to be as important as investigating the effects long COVID in adults.

Females have a 31% higher associated risk of developing long COVID, UT Health San Antonio-led RECOVER study shows.

Females are found to have a 31% higher risk of developing long COVID, with women ages 40 to 55 years having the highest risk, according to a study led by UT Health San Antonio. The latest study followed over 12,000 patients over time to identify the risk of developing long COVID and found that females have a higher risk than males.

“These findings show that patients and health care teams should consider the differences in long COVID risk as it relates to sex assigned at birth,” said Dimpy Shah, MD, PhD, assistant professor of population health sciences at UT Health San Antonio. “Understanding these differences can help us recognize and treat patients with long COVID more effectively.”

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