Management of Long COVID

This wiki is intended for healthcare professionals and should not be considered medical advice.

Summary Table
Click here for a Google Docs sheet summarising possible management approaches to Long COVID, arranged by presenting complaint/symptom.

General
Greenhalgh T. et al. (11 August 2020) Management of post-acute covid-19 in primary care. BMJ2020;370:m3026 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3026

Barker-Davies, Robert M et al. The Stanford Hall consensus statement for post-COVID-19 rehabilitation British journal of sports medicine vol. 54,16 (2020): 949-959. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2020-102596
 * "Cardiac sequelae should be considered in all patients post-COVID-19, regardless of severity, and all patients should have an assessment of their cardiac symptoms, recovery, function and potential impairments. Depending on the patient’s initial assessment and symptoms, specialist advice should be sought, and further investigations may include a specialist blood panel, ECG, 24-hour ECG, echocardiogram, cardiopulmonary exercise testing and/or cardiac MRI."
 * "Patients with COVID-19 who experience the following symptoms: severe sore throat, body aches, shortness of breath, general fatigue, chest pain, cough or fever should avoid exercise (>3 METs or equivalent) for between 2 weeks and 3 weeks after the cessation of those symptoms"
 * "Following SARS in 2003, a post-SARS syndrome was described, with the same phenotype as postviral chronic fatigue syndrome, similar to fibromyalgia, with poor sleep, fatigue, myalgia and depression, with some unable to return to work as a result."

Chaudhry A, Master H Top tips: managing long COVID Guidelines in Practice, 22 January 2021 Dr Ashish Chaudhry and Dr Harsha Master offer nine top tips for recognising and managing long COVID-19 symptoms in primary care.

NICE
NICE (18 Dec 2020) Rapid guideline: [https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng188/chapter/4-Planning-care Managing the long-term effects of COVID-19. NICE guideline [NG188 ] ] Published date: 18 December 2020

Responses and critiques to the NICE guideline: Gorna R, MacDermott N, Rayner C, O’Hara M, Evans S, Agyen L, Nutland N, Rogers N and Hastie C. (18 Dec 2020)Long COVID guidelines need to reflect lived experience. The Lancet. Published Online https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32705-7

Sivan Manoj, Taylor Sharon. (23 December 2020). NICE guideline on long covid BMJ 2020; 371 :m4938 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4938

SIGN
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (Dec 2020). Long COVID (Patient Information Leaflet)

Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (Dec 2020). Managing the long-term effects of COVID-19.

International/Other
NIH (Updated: 17 Dec 2020) COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines ''Please note these guidelines are mostly restricted to COVID-19 in the acute setting with a small word here about long COVID.

COVID-NMA. Long Covid/rehab. ''This international consortium working with the WHO searches and evaluates the literature regularly for evidence of LC treatments. A single study there at the moment [Accessed 26 Jan 2021] ''

Chaudhry A, Master H Top tips: managing long COVID Guidelines in Practice, 22 January 2021 Dr Ashish Chaudhry and Dr Harsha Master offer nine top tips for recognising and managing long COVID-19 symptoms in primary care.

Advice, Tips and Tricks for Long COVID as a patient
This is addressed to healthcare professionals with Long COVID but generally it will apply to your patients too.
 * Right to Choose: Under the NHS Choice framework, a patient can choose their consultant or service theoretically anywhere in the country but only before they get seen by someone who then are regarded as their provider and it becomes more complicated/a negotiation with the GP to get a second opinion. It is much easier to be seen by the right person in the first place. Talk to other Long Covideers as a patient because there are services, consultants and departments that have been problematic in their approach. A cardiologist with a specialist interest in POTS is likely better for Long COVID patients for example.
 * Which.co.uk. Patient choice: how to choose the right hospital and consultant
 * Rest and take regular breaks: Do not get affected by presenteeism for absence at work. You will likely need more rest and time off from work than you think. See Pacing Resources and Employment issues and sick pay. Do a slow phased return with occupational therapy input.
 * Work smart, not hard:
 * Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy
 * Creative procrastination
 * Posteriorities as well as priorities
 * Decision Fatigue
 * Below adapted from Procrastinate on Purpose by Rory Vaden
 * Prioritise Is it urgent? Is it important? the first priority should have your full attention. No more than five items per day. Multiply your lifespan - always worth *prioritising personal health* for more healthy quality of life later. Need to rest and pace.
 * Eliminate Is it important you do this? Sometimes non-urgent things are important to do regularly (like resting!).
 * Automate Time spent automating future tasks is a worthy investment.
 * Delegate It is probably worth investing 30 mins for every minute of work you do yourself on training someone else to do it.
 * Procrastination Do things too early and factors may change or it may be easier to do it later, wait until optimal time to act.
 * Wearables: Anecdotally wearable devices that record heart rate and sleep quality as well as other fitness metrics are helpful. The Body Battery feature by Garmin devices can also be anecdotally helpful to aid pacing.

Useful Apps

 * Food Intolerances [paid] - aids in low histamine diet - Apple Google
 * Medicine aids e.g. [placeholder]

Useful Organisations

 * Long Covid Support
 * For healthcare professionals as patients:
 * Royal Medical Benevolent Fund
 * For doctors in a training program: your local Professional Support Unit

Long COVID clinics
60 LC clinics announced by NHS England 18 Dec 2020

Post-exertional malaise, fatigue and pacing resources
Click here for Pacing Resources

This Week In Virology podcast episode - Long Covid Long-term COVID and ME/CFS: Discussing patients with long-term COVID and similarities and differences with ME/CFS.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Treatment of ME/CFS | Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) | CDC [Internet ]. 2019 [cited 2021 Feb 1].

Torjesen I. (21 July 2020) NICE cautions against using graded exercise therapy for patients recovering from covid-19. BMJ2020;370:m2912 doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2912 from:

NICE (July 2020) Statement about graded exercise therapy in the context of COVID-19.

NICE. (Nov 2020) [DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION Project documents | Myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy)/chronic fatigue syndrome: diagnosis and management [Internet ] ]. NICE; 2020 [cited 2021 Feb 1]. 1.11.16 Do not offer people with ME/CFS:
 * any therapy based on physical activity or exercise as a treatment or cure for ME/CFS
 * generalised physical activity or exercise programmes – this includes programmes developed for healthy people or people with other illnesses
 * any programme based on fixed incremental increases in physical activity or exercise, for example graded exercise therapy
 * structured activity or exercise programmes that are based on deconditioning as the cause of ME/CFS
 * therapies derived from osteopathy, life coaching and neurolinguistic programming (for example the Lightning Process). 

Dysautonomia, Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and inappropriate sinus tachycardia
[placeholder]

Mast cell activation syndrome

 * AAAA - Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
 * this webpage summarises management of MCAS, be mindful this is an American organisation
 * Low histamine diet
 * Low histamine diet
 * The Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI) Food Compatibility List and the SIGHI-Leaflet: Histamine Elimination Diet
 * ''See also Food Intolerances app under 'Useful Apps' above

Research involvement
UK Long Covid studies that are recruiting: [placeholder]

Return to work
NHS Employers: Supporting staff to return to the workplace

Please also see employment issues and sick pay page.

Service Design
Ladds, E., Rushforth, A., Wieringa, S. et al. Persistent symptoms after Covid-19: qualitative study of 114 “long Covid” patients and draft quality principles for services BMC Health Serv Res 20, 1144 (2020). doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-06001-y

Background

Approximately 10% of patients with Covid-19 experience symptoms beyond 3–4 weeks. Patients call this “long Covid”. We sought to document such patients’ lived experience, including accessing and receiving healthcare and ideas for improving services.

Summary of key findings

This qualitative study of 114 people with long Covid in UK, including high representation from health professionals, has revealed a number of important findings. People experience long Covid as a confusing illness with many, varied and often relapsing-remitting symptoms, uncertain prognosis and a heavy sense of loss and stigma. They find it difficult to access and navigate services which they experience as fragmented and siloed; some described not being taken seriously. There appears to be wide variation in clinical practice (e.g. inconsistent criteria for seeing, investigating and referring patients), and in the quality of the therapeutic relationship. We identified a number of possible critical events which may have been partly due to overstretched, disjointed services designed to discourage face-to-face encounters. These findings informed draft quality principles.

Conclusion

Suggested quality principles for a long Covid service include ensuring access to care, reducing burden of illness, taking clinical responsibility and providing continuity of care, multi-disciplinary rehabilitation, evidence-based investigation and management, and further development of the knowledge base and clinical services.