National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK.
National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK
Eur Respir J. 2023 May 11;61(5). doi: 10.1183/13993003.00409-2023. Print 2023 May.
Many patients report persistent symptoms after resolution of acute COVID-19, regardless of SARS-CoV-2 variant and even if the initial illness is mild [1, 2]. A multitude of symptoms have been described under the umbrella term ‘Long COVID’, otherwise known as ‘post-COVID syndrome’ or ‘post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC)’; for simplicity we will use the term Long COVID. Symptoms are diverse but include breathlessness, fatigue and brain fog, reported to affect up to 69% of cases [3]. Long COVID can be debilitating, 45.2% of patients requiring a reduced work schedule [4]. The WHO estimates that 17 million people in Europe have experienced Long COVID during the first two years of the pandemic [5]. SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to circulate and the risk of post-acute complications remains; a recent study of 56 003 UK patients found that even after Omicron infection, 4.5% suffered persistent symptoms [6]. It is therefore likely that Long COVID will provide a substantial medical and economic burden for the foreseeable future. There is an urgent need to understand mechanisms of disease and develop effective treatments based on this understanding.
许多患者在急性 COVID-19 痊愈后仍有持续症状，无论 SARS-CoV-2 变体如何，即使初始疾病较轻也是如此[1,2]。在“长新冠”这一总称下已经描述了许多症状，也称为“新冠后综合征”或“SARS-CoV-2 的急性后期后遗症（PASC）”；为简单起见，我们将使用“长新冠”一词。症状多种多样，但包括呼吸困难、疲劳和脑雾，据报道，多达 69%的病例有这些症状[3]。长新冠可能使人衰弱，45.2%的患者需要减少工作时间[4]。世卫组织估计，在大流行的头两年，欧洲有 1700 万人经历过长新冠[5]。SARS-CoV-2 变体继续传播，急性后期并发症的风险仍然存在；最近对 56003 名英国患者的研究发现，即使在感染奥密克戎后，仍有 4.5%的患者持续出现症状[6]。因此，长新冠很可能在可预见的未来给医疗和经济带来巨大负担。迫切需要了解疾病机制，并在此基础上开发有效的治疗方法。
