King’s College research shows at least three distinct ‘types’ of long covid for people experiencing symptoms for 12 weeks or more.
People with long covid symptoms for 12 weeks or more fell into three main groups based on the types of symptoms they were experiencing.
The largest group was characterised by a cluster of neurological symptoms such as fatigue, brain-fog and headache and was the most common subtype among alpha and delta variants.
A second group experienced respiratory symptoms including chest pain and severe shortness of breath, which could point to lung damage. This was the largest cluster in the wild-type period when the population was unvaccinated.
Finally there were some people who experienced a diverse range of symptoms including heart palpitations, muscle ache and pain, and changes in skin and hair.
“These data show clearly that post COVID syndrome is not just one condition, but appears to have at several subtypes. Our findings matched with people’s experience living with long COVID. Understanding the root causes of these subtypes may help in finding treatment strategies. Moreover these data emphasise the need for Long-COVID services to incorporate a personalised approach sensitive to the issues of each individual.”
