
What treatments are available for long COVID? People who got infected multiple times were also more likely to develop long COVID, the study said.ĭata from an Australian post-COVID clinic shows it often affects women in their 40s and 50s, most of whom led active lives before they got sick. The US study said long COVID was more common and severe in participants infected before the Omicron strain emerged in late 2021, as well as unvaccinated participants. Reports cited in last month's parliamentary inquiry into long COVID puts that five down to about 5 per cent in Australia. The World Health Organization estimates long COVID could affect 10 to 20 per cent of people who have a COVID-19 infection.

That's because there's still so much experts don't know about long COVID. "Having a tool like this for doctors, collecting information on symptoms in a systematic way … it won't necessarily be 100 per cent correct as a diagnostic tool, but by using it will start to collect important data that will help us refine and understand the frequency and risk factors better also," Dr Bennett said. The recent parliamentary inquiry report found many long COVID patients were frustrated with the lack of answers or consistent advice from healthcare professionals, and were now disillusioned with Australia's healthcare system. "The study findings could be a basis for a diagnostic tool in Australia, and that's something we don't have," Dr Bennett said. With many in Australia struggling to get a diagnosis, Dr Bennett said the study could help by "attaching a long COVID diagnosis to different packages of symptoms."

As a respiratory physician we see it a lot in long COVID patients," he says. "Breathlessness is a really important symptom. Professor Byrne says a symptom his clinic often sees not included on the US study findings is breathlessness. Researchers said a person with symptoms not on this list may still have long COVID, but it is a first step in identifying "common language" for those working toward treatments. Abnormal movements (including tremors, slowed movements or sudden, unintended and uncontrollable jerky movements).


