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Primary care plays a role in helping patients with long COVID symptoms by providing holistic, trustworthy care
Many people are experiencing a variety of long COVID-19 symptoms and are relying on some of their own methods to allay those symptoms. Others are in need of additional therapies from their medical care team.
Researchers from Germany asked patients experiencing post-COVID symptoms about the therapies they used and found effective, as well as their ongoing medical needs. Almost 500 participants completed an online survey about individual experiences with various therapeutic strategies.
The most common symptoms included fatigue, physical exhaustion, difficulty concentrating, and loss of taste and smell. Patient approaches to alleviating symptoms included mind-body medicine, the use of nutritional supplements, sports activities/exercise, and olfactory training in the case of loss of smell.
When asked about their specific medical needs, only 13% of patients indicated they had no additional needs. Thirty-five percent of patients wanted more understanding and recognition of their situation and 33% indicated the need for specific post-COVID health care services, as well as more information. Additionally, study authors suggest that doctors be more attentive to patients' needs for empathy and understanding.
The research is published in The Annals of Family Medicine.
More information: Carina Klocke et al, Patients' Experiences With Therapeutic Approaches for Post-COVID Syndrome: Results of a Crowdsourced Research Survey, The Annals of Family Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1370/afm.2898
