Registered Clinical Trials investigating long COVID treatment: a scoping review
Creators: name: Ceban, Felicia
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Medicine and Health Sciences
subject: Life Sciences
subject: COVID-19
subject: long COVID
subject: long COVID treatment
subject: PASC
subject: post-acute COVID-19 sequelae
subject: post-COVID-19 syndrome
subject: scoping review

description: Background It is approximated that between 30-60% of individuals experience persistent symptoms following the resolution of acute COVID-19.1,2 Commonly reported symptoms include fatigue, dyspnea, cognitive impairment, headache, sleep problems, anosmia, myalgia, and depression.1–4 Symptoms persisting 4 or more weeks following SARS-CoV-2 infection are termed ‘post-COVID conditions’ by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).3 Conversely, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) defines ‘post-COVID-19 syndrome’ as a constellation of symptoms which develop during or following COVID-19 infection, persist for more than 12 weeks, and are not sufficiently explained by alternative diagnoses, whereas symptoms lasting 4-12 weeks are termed ‘Ongoing symptomatic COVID-19’.4 Colloquially, the panoply of persistent symptoms is referred to as ‘long COVID’. Long COVID patients have reported significant functional impairment, quality of life diminution, and socioeconomic challenges associated with persistent symptoms.2,5 Notwithstanding the fact that long COVID clinics are emerging globally,6 there is no established treatment. However, research efforts into treatments for disparate long COVID symptoms are underway, targeting putative underlying mechanisms including but not limited to dysregulation of the immune-inflammatory axis, autonomic dysfunction, systemic and central endothelial dysfunction, and multi-organ pathology. As such, the aim of this scoping review is to establish the types of interventions currently under investigation for the treatment of symptoms persisting past resolution of acute COVID-19. The results of this review will provide a scope of the types of treatments which may be available soon, insight into mechanisms subserving disparate long COVID symptoms, as well as highlight key limitations and long COVID symptoms not being addressed in order to inform future research. References 1. Lopez-Leon S, Wegman-Ostrosky T, Perelman C, et al. More than 50 Long-term effects of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. medRxiv. Published online January 30, 2021. doi:10.1101/2021.01.27.21250617 2. Michelen M, Cheng V, Manoharan L, et al. Characterising long term Covid-19: a living systematic review. bioRxiv. Published online December 9, 2020. doi:10.1101/2020.12.08.20246025 3. CDC. Post-COVID Conditions. Published July 12, 2021. Accessed July 22, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/long-term-effects.html 4. Overview | COVID-19 rapid guideline: managing the long-term effects of COVID-19 | Guidance | NICE. Accessed July 22, 2021. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng188 5. Davis HE, Assaf GS, McCorkell L, et al. Characterizing long COVID in an international cohort: 7 months of symptoms and their impact. EClinicalMedicine. 2021;0(0). doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101019