NIH to open new long COVID clinical trials in US to assess four treatment categories

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

Clinical trials aim to assess potential treatments for sleep disturbances, exercise intolerance and post exertional malaise

 

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will launch clinical trials to investigate potential treatments for long-term symptoms after COVID-19 infection, including sleep disturbances, exercise intolerance and the worsening of symptoms following physical or mental exertion known as post-exertional malaise (PEM).

 

The mid-stage trials, part of NIH’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative, will join six other RECOVER studies currently enrolling participants across the United States testing treatments to address viral persistence, neurological symptoms, including cognitive dysfunction (like brain fog) and autonomic nervous system dysfunction.

 

The new trials will enroll approximately 1,660 people across 50 study sites to investigate potential treatments for some of the most frequent and burdensome symptoms reported by people suffering from long COVID.

 

“The group of symptoms these trials will try to alleviate are truly disruptive and devastating for so many people struggling with long COVID,” said Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D., director of NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and co-lead of the RECOVER Initiative. “When people can’t get reliable sleep, can’t exert themselves and feel sick following tasks that used to be simple, the physical and mental anguish can lead to feelings of utter helplessness. We urgently need to come up with answers to help those struggling with long COVID feel whole again.”

 

(more)

 

[details of the specific potential treatments to be explored are listed in the full announcement linked below]

 

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-open-long-covid-clinical-trials-study-sleep-disturbances-exercise-intolerance-post-exertional-malaise

 

 

[Red Phoenix]

Here a link to a study whether COVID-19 vaccination affects long-COVID symptoms.

> https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38324547/

And this small scale study confirms that the vaccinated have a higher chance of getting long-COVID than non-vaccinated people.

Note: As it is a short study, I posted full text below.

 

Objective: The current study aimed to identify the association between COVID-19 vaccination and prolonged post-COVID symptoms (long-COVID) in adults who reported suffering from this condition.

Methods: This was a retrospective follow-up study of adults with long-COVID syndrome. The data were collected during a phone call to the participants in January-February 2022. We inquired about their current health status and also their vaccination status if they agreed to participate.

Results: In total, 1236 people were studied; 543 individuals reported suffering from long long- COVID (43.9%). Chi square test showed that 15 out of 51 people (29.4%) with no vaccination and 528 out of 1185 participants (44.6%) who received at least one dose of any vaccine had long long- COVID symptoms (p = 0.032).

Conclusions: In people who have already contracted COVID-19 and now suffer from long-COVID, receiving a COVID vaccination has a significant association with prolonged symptoms of long-COVID for more than one year after the initial infection. However, vaccines reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 (including reinfections) and its catastrophic consequences (e.g., death). Therefore, it is strongly recommended that all people, even those with a history of COVID-19, receive vaccines to protect themselves against this fatal viral infection.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Quote

In people who have already contracted COVID-19 and now suffer from long-COVID, receiving a COVID vaccination has a significant association with prolonged symptoms of long-COVID for more than one year after the initial infection.

 

Association is not necessarily causation.

 

And, the cited study is a small one from Iran, curiously authored by an epilepsy doctor for some reason, and counted people who had received only ONE COVID vaccine dose, which is not full vaccination.

 

Meanwhile, there are many other Long COVID studies from around the world that consistently say COVID vaccination prior to COVID infection significantly reduces the subsequent risk of Long COVID.

 

Review estimates 69% 3-dose vaccine efficacy against long COVID

A meta-analysis today in Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology estimates a vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 69% for three doses of COVID-19 vaccine against long COVID, while two doses offer 37% efficacy.

 

Led by researchers at the University of Iowa, the meta-analysis involved 24 studies [emphasis added] on COVID-19 VE against long COVID among recipients of at least two doses of a vaccine before or after infection from December 2019 to June 2023.

...

Much lower long-COVID prevalence among vaccinated

The pooled prevalence of long COVID was 11.8% among unvaccinated participants and 5.3% among recipients of at least two vaccine doses. 

 

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/review-estimates-69-3-dose-vaccine-efficacy-against-long-covid

 

AND

Getting Vaccinated May Be Your Best Protection from Long COVID

November 22, 2023

 

People vaccinated before their first case of COVID-19 are diagnosed with Long COVID almost four times less than unvaccinated people, suggests a large new study published Nov. 22 in the BMJ.

 

That’s not an entirely new finding. For years, studies have shown that, while vaccinated people can and do develop Long COVID, they are at lower risk than people who haven’t had their shots. But researchers have come to drastically different estimates about exactly how much protection vaccines offer against Long COVID, with their findings ranging from about 15% efficacy to around 50%.

 

The new study offers encouraging evidence that people who get vaccinated before their first COVID-19 case are at significantly lower risk of developing long-term symptoms like brain fog and fatigue, with each additional dose received prior to infection offering extra protection. A single pre-infection dose of one of the original COVID-19 vaccines reduced the risk of Long COVID by 21%, two doses by 59%, and three or more doses by 73%, the researchers estimated.

 

(more)

 

https://time.com/6338434/vaccination-long-covid-risk/

 

 

Edited May 13 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[impulse]

1 hour ago, Red Phoenix said:

15 out of 51 people (29.4%) with no vaccination and 528 out of 1185 participants (44.6%) who received at least one dose of any vaccine had long long- COVID symptoms (p = 0.032).

 

Conclusions: In people who have already contracted COVID-19 and now suffer from long-COVID, receiving a COVID vaccination has a significant association with prolonged symptoms of long-COVID for more than one year after the initial infection. However, vaccines reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 (including reinfections) and its catastrophic consequences (e.g., death). Therefore, it is strongly recommended that all people, even those with a history of COVID-19, receive vaccines to protect themselves against this fatal viral infection.

 

 

Their recommendation flies in the face of their actual data...

 

That's not a study.  That's an ad.

 

To support that conclusion and that recommendation, they'd have had to include the data.  Which they didn't.

 

Also interesting that 43.9% of the people they "studied" claimed long Covid symptoms.  Does that mean 43.9% of the population, or did they selectively call only people who had long Covid symptoms at some time?  Because the difference between 29.4% and 44.6% is huge when it comes to debilitating side effects.