Israeli Study Shows Long COVID Symptoms Go Within a Year in Mild Cases

On Thursday, a large Israeli study showed that most people who have had mild infections initially will see their long COVID systems clear up within a year’s time.

The study’s findings were considered ‘reassuring’. The World Health Organization’s modeling has disclosed that between 2020 and 2021, about 17 million people suffered from long COVID symptoms in Europe after recovery from initial infection.

But, most of the details about the condition have remained unclear, which include the length of its duration.

The study

Between the period of March 2020 and October 2021, medical records of about two million people were analyzed by Israeli researchers.

These people had tested positive for COVID in Israel between the duration mentioned above. Therefore, the results of the study covered earlier variants of COVID-19, including Delta.

However, they did not include the Omicron variant, which was discovered more recently. Maccabi Healthcare Services had provided the medical records in questions.

The researchers involved in the study had gone through these records to search for more than 70 different symptoms that have been associated with long COVID.

It did not include patients who suffered from more serious illnesses, such as those who had been hospitalized, even though previous research had shown that they had a higher chance of getting long COVID.

The results

The study discovered that in the case of mild cases, the risk of a number of conditions were significantly higher.

These included palpitations, loss of taste and smell, weakness, memory impairment and concentration issues commonly called ‘brain fog’, dizziness, and strep throat and breathing problems.

However, most of these symptoms did not last for more than 12 months.

Co-author of the study and KI Research Institute’s researcher, Maytal Bivas-Benita said that there was a very small number of people who were suffering from weakness, or shortness of breath a year after COVID.

More discoveries

The journal called BMJ published the study, which also discovered that the risk of breathing problems were lower in vaccinated patients, as opposed to unvaccinated ones.

It should be noted that breathing problems were the most common symptom of long COVID. Meanwhile, there were fewer health issues in children as opposed to adults.

Moreover, most of the children were also able to recover from the symptoms within a year. Bivas-Benita said that the finds had been very encouraging, especially because there had been concerns about how long the symptoms could last.

She said that most of the patients would be fine after a year. Barak Mizrahi, the lead author of the study, said that he was hoping the research would be helpful for doctors.

It would help them in figuring out if the symptoms of their patients were actually COVID-related. A clinical academic in London’s King’s College and a pediatrician, Michael Absoud said the findings were ‘reassuring’.

He was not part of the study, but said that the findings confirm that most of the children who are suffering from symptoms of long COVID could be able to recover.