- A new study found that people with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) were three times more likely to develop Long COVID than those without the syndrome. The study was published in PLOS Digital Health and assessed the electronic health records of nearly 20 million Americans, finding that 1 in 800 had hEDS. “These findings establish hEDS as more prevalent than previously recognized and identify a substantially elevated, comorbidity-driven risk of Long COVID in this population,” the authors concluded. Due to limited COVID-19 testing and use of the Long COVID diagnostic code, the researchers stated that Long COVID incidence may be underestimated. The study adds more evidence to the overlap of hEDS and Long COVID; read more about it in one of our features.
- Around 75% of people with Long COVID have not recovered after three years, according to a new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The study included over 1,000 people from the RECOVER cohort who were assessed over three years using the controversial “2024 LC Research Index (LCRI),” a composite score that measures 11 Long COVID symptoms. Some people with Long COVID have criticized the index as a narrow way to measure the disease, which has over 200 symptoms, and suggested the study’s results overestimate recovery. The study only required only two visits below a score of 11 (measured from 0 to 30) over three months as a primary outcome, even though Long COVID can remit and relapse. Some websites reported that a majority in the study had “significant recovery,” rather than that 75% were still affected by Long COVID.
- A new study in the Journal of Neuroinflammation found that repeated SARS-CoV-2 infections can impair neuron function and worsen brain pathology in mouse models. The study compared “wild type” mice, or controls, to “Alzheimer’s disease (AD)” mice who were genetically engineered to have brains susceptible to AD. The mice were infected with two different strains of SARS-C0V-2, 14 days apart; a model that researchers said “mimics real-world reinfection with distinct viral variants.” Researchers discovered that there were measurable changes in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays a vital role in memory, as well as an increase in amyloid plaque burden, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease and related diseases.“These findings highlight that mild, repeated respiratory infections may have cumulative effects on brain health over time,” the authors concluded.
