Psychological therapy may be the only treatment to successfully cure lingering ‘Long Covid’ symptoms, landmark new research in the BMJ has suggested. The Mail has more.
Canadian scientists found talking therapies and physical and mental rehabilitation “probably improve symptoms” among those struck down with the virus.
But there was “no compelling evidence” that certain drugs, dietary supplements or oxygen therapy could effectively treat the phenomenon now better known as Long Covid.
U.S. officials suggest one in 10 people who catch the virus will develop Long Covid, while around two million people in the U.K. are reported to live with the condition, including 112,000 children.
Symptoms have long been thought to be wide-ranging, from fatigue and breathlessness to muscle and joint pain.
In the study, researchers from McMaster University in Ontario assessed the findings of 24 separate trials involving 3,695 patients with the condition.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, they said the evidence “suggests that a programme of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) probably reduces fatigue and improves cognitive function in patients with Long Covid”.
They also found “intermittent” aerobic exercise three to five times a week for four to six weeks, “probably improves physical function” and recovery.
However, they acknowledged that both CBT and physical and mental health rehabilitation “may be challenging”.
This is because patients may “express concerns about the safety and efficacy of these approaches” given it “implies that Long Covid is not ‘real’ but ‘psychological'”.
The scientists, however, acknowledged the study had some limitations including ‘possibly missing eligible trials’.
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