Chandelier
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
The long COVID conundrum from a New Zealand perspective
Mackay, Angus
A key recommendation that arises from this call is to expand vaccination to encompass younger children.
An empirical research-based, universal and detailed definition of long COVID would enhance understanding and research to reflect composition and characteristics of this heterogeneous patient group. 3,29
Integration with the now increasingly refined ME/CFS diagnostic criteria 16 will allow for characterisation of long COVID-related PVFS patients, particularly from the milder or moderate cases where longer-lasting organ or system damage would be less likely.17
New Zealand research is needed to complement international research efforts such as the USA National Institutes of Health Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative. A fresh initiative would be highly recommended, involving longitudinal studies tracking long COVID-related PVFS and ME/CFS patients through relapse–recovery cycles, making comparative studies of their symptoms, with simultaneous data retrieved from sensitive neuroimaging technology (such as PET/MRI), cerebral spinal fluid biomarkers related to neuroinflammation and blood-biomarkers including proteomics.30
PDF | Web | DOI | New Zealand Medical Journal | Paywall (PDF available)
Mackay, Angus
Conclusion
The prevalence of long COVID may not be so high in New Zealand as globally but could affect at least 10% of those who have had COVID-19 infection. A more accurate assessment of the disease prevalence is important to plan services, which may have particular relevance to important groups in New Zealand such as Māori and Pacific peoples. There has been a call for ongoing monitoring of this situation, particularly as New Zealand has experienced continued waves of infections. 14A key recommendation that arises from this call is to expand vaccination to encompass younger children.
An empirical research-based, universal and detailed definition of long COVID would enhance understanding and research to reflect composition and characteristics of this heterogeneous patient group. 3,29
Integration with the now increasingly refined ME/CFS diagnostic criteria 16 will allow for characterisation of long COVID-related PVFS patients, particularly from the milder or moderate cases where longer-lasting organ or system damage would be less likely.17
New Zealand research is needed to complement international research efforts such as the USA National Institutes of Health Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative. A fresh initiative would be highly recommended, involving longitudinal studies tracking long COVID-related PVFS and ME/CFS patients through relapse–recovery cycles, making comparative studies of their symptoms, with simultaneous data retrieved from sensitive neuroimaging technology (such as PET/MRI), cerebral spinal fluid biomarkers related to neuroinflammation and blood-biomarkers including proteomics.30
PDF | Web | DOI | New Zealand Medical Journal | Paywall (PDF available)