- Three recent studies show the harmful effects of misdiagnosis for chronic diseases and conditions. The first, a meta-analysis in Psychological Bulletin of 151 studies encompassing 11 diseases (including Long COVID) and over 11,000 participants, found that medical gaslighting led to adverse impacts including diagnostic delay and emotional stress. Another misdiagnosis study in Rheumatology, which used responses from two surveys with over 3,000 participants with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases, found that misdiagnoses negatively impacted mental health, self-worth, and some healthcare behaviours. Lastly, a third study in Children of 429 participants with hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) found that 94% had experienced misdiagnosis leading to “profound implications for patients’ physical, mental, and economic well-being.”
- A new preprint shared in Research Square found a connection between post-exertional malaise (PEM) and microclots, or tiny blood clots that disrupt how oxygen moves through the body. Researchers, including leading microclot researcher Resia Pretorius and colleagues at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, studied 46 people with Long COVID; each participant completed two cardiopulmonary exercise tests. After exercise, the scientists found that larger microclots broke up into smaller ones, along with increased inflammation and vascular damage. These findings underscore that exercise may make symptoms worse for many people with Long COVID.
- The Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illness (CoRE) at Mount Sinai in New York is now recruiting for their rapamycin clinical trial for Long COVID. Participants of the study will take the drug or a placebo for 12 weeks and be required to visit the clinic in person five times over a six-month period. Contact: CoreResearch@mountsinai.org.
