A study on the largest French epidemiological cohort suggests that from a statistical point of view, being convinced of having had the CVIV-19 is more associated with “long Covid” symptoms than to actually contracted the disease.
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Chronic fatigue, shortness of breath, thoracic, muscle or joint pain, immediate memory disorders or concentration, headache, anxiety … More than a month after taking the COVID-19, some people continue to experience a variety Persistent symptoms, sometimes very disabling. A new terminology, called “Long Covid”, forged by patients, has gradually imposed to describe this new pathological entity. But is it really due to infection with the new coronavirus?
An explosive and meticulous epidemiological study, Published Monday November 8 by JAMA Internal Medicine Journal , calls into question the possibility of such a causal link. It does not invalidate the fact that some people can suffer from a post-infective syndrome but suggests that, from a statistical point of view, it is the conviction of being infected by the SAR-COV-2 which is linked to the symptoms of “Long Covid”, more than having been indeed infected.
In a context where many patients with a “long COVID” feel they do not be taken seriously by the medical community, this work feeds a keen debate. “We must pay attention: our results do not say that the disorders reported by patients are imaginary or necessarily psychosomatic, immediately warned Cédric Lemogne (AP-HP, INSERM, University of Paris), head of the psychiatric service of The adult at the Hôtel-Dieu, and coordinator of the study. Our analysis is limited to suggesting that the presence of prolonged symptoms would not be specifically associated with having been infected by the new coronavirus, and not that these symptoms do not exist. Since these patients feel them, these symptoms exist by definition. “
one or more persistent symptoms
The researchers used the data of the cohort constants, the largest French epidemiological cohort. About 30,000 of its members responded to a questionnaire asking them in particular if they thought they had contracted COVID-19, if a firm diagnosis had been asked, and if they suffered from one or more persistent symptoms, several weeks after the beginning of the disease.
The researchers then crossed these answers with the serological status of each of the participants. During the period studied by the researchers – between March and November 2020 – the PCR tests were difficult to access: many participants enlisted in the study were diagnosed with CVIV-19 without solid validation. So some are convinced of having contracted the disease but their serology is negative, suggesting that they have not been infected with coronavirus. On the other hand, some did not feel VVID-19 symptoms but their seropositivity suggests that they have been infected. More banably, some people think they have been infected and their serology is actually positive, others are convinced never have been, in accordance with their seronegativity.
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