First results from largescale long-COVID study

One of the largest studies to date into the long-term effects of COVID-19 - the Long-CISS (Covid In Scotland Study) - found that 1 in 20 people who took part in the research had not recovered from having COVID-19 at their most recent follow up - between six and 18 months following infection with SARS-CoV-2. The CISS study - which is led by the University of Glasgow in collaboration with Public Health Scotland, the NHS in Scotland, and the Universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh, and funded by the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office - was set up in May 2021 to understand the long-term impact of COVID 19, and compare it with the health and wellbeing of people who had not yet been infected. The first set of results from the ongoing study, published today in Nature Communications, found that, overall, 42% of people infected with COVID-19 reported feeling only partially recovered between sixand 18-months following infection. Details of each person's partial recovery were not given in the survey but could include a range of symptoms from mild to moderate and may not necessarily result in a long COVID diagnosis. Reassuringly, the study found that those with asymptomatic infection had no long-term impact; and people who had been vaccinated prior to infection with COVID-19 appeared to have protection from some long-term symptoms. However, the study found that the impact for people with long-COVID were wide-reaching, with a wide-range of symptoms, impacts on all aspects of daily life and reduced overall quality of life.