Long covid—an update for primary care

What you need to knowLong covid (prolonged symptoms following covid-19 infection) is common The mainstay of management is supportive, holistic care, symptom control, and detection of treatable complicationsMany patients can be supported effectively in primary care by a GP with a special interest This article updates and extends a previous BMJ Practice Pointer published in August 2020 when almost no peer reviewed research or evidence based guidance on the condition was available.1 In this update we outline how clinicians might respond to the questions that patients ask.DefinitionThe term “long covid”2 refers to prolonged symptoms following infection with SARS-CoV-2 that are not explained by an alternative diagnosis. It embraces the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)’s terms “ongoing symptomatic covid-19” (symptoms lasting 4-12 weeks) and “post covid-19 syndrome” (symptoms beyond 12 weeks),3 the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s group of “post-covid conditions,”4 and the World Health Organization’s…
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