Axios There are eight different ways people experience long COVID symptoms, according to a new study from the National Institutes of Health’s research initiative.
The big picture: The new study represents one of the most substantive findings on long COVID from the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) project, launched by the NIH in 2021.
- The findings, released on Nov. 17, come as scientists and medical experts warn that President Trump’s cuts to the NIH last spring would severely impact the initiative’s research.
Driving the news: In the new study launched in 2023, the researchers found that participants experienced long COVID in eight different ways and lengths of time.
- The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, featured 3,659 participants, 69% of whom were female, and 99.6% were studied during the Omicron variant era of the pandemic.
- The researchers measured long COVID experiences from three to 15 months.
Here’s what to know.
Long COVID symptom timelines
The researchers found that people experienced symptoms in different ways.
- Some felt many symptoms quickly for short periods of time, while others felt symptoms rarely for long periods of time.
Here are the eight patterns outlined by the study:
- Symptoms remained high at all times with “persistent, high symptom burden.”
- Symptoms fluctuated and only sometimes met the threshold for long COVID.
- Symptoms decreased over time.
- Long COVID symptoms started low for three months and then became nonexistent at six months.
- Symptoms increased over time with a “worsening, moderate symptom burden.”
- Symptoms started low for three to 12 months, then increased after 15 months, likely driven by a “post-exertional malaise.”
- Symptoms started generally low, but grew higher between three and 15 months without ever reaching the threshold for long COVID.
- Some experienced symptoms so infrequently they never met the threshold for long COVID.
What they’re saying: The researchers said the identification of these paths is “critically important” for understanding long COVID and developing strategies to fight it.