Long Covid cannot be blamed for constant tiredness, brain fog or muscle pain, study suggests

Constant tiredness. Brain fog. Muscle pain. 

These are the most common complaints by people with 'long Covid'. 

But a new study suggests these symptoms are just as likely to occur in people who never caught Covid.

After following thousands of  people who had and had not tested positive, the team found Covid made 'no difference' in whether or not someone would go on to develop those issues - fatigue, problems with thinking or memory, and muscle pain.

The study, dubbed INSPIRE and funded by the CDC, is part of a growing body of research suggesting that long Covid symptoms could be overblown or attributed to other illnesses. 

Long Covid also been thrust back into the spotlight recently, as Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner's daughter Violet Affleck argued in favor of mask mandates. 

The 18-year-old claims she contracted a 'post-viral infection' in 2019.

Researchers at the University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) recruited more than 4,000 adults who tested positive for Covid between December 2020 and August 2022.

The participants were divided into two groups: Covid-positive and Covid-negative.

Among both groups, three to four percent of participants reported symptoms consistent with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) - a disease that causes extreme fatigue, brain fog, and similar symptoms. 

This finding suggests that Covid made 'no difference' in whether or not someone would develop the illness, even though Covid has long been considered a cause of ME/CFS. 

Dr Joann Elmore, co-senior author of the study and professor of internal medicine and health services research at UCLA, said: 'ME/CFS is no more likely to occur in people infected with COVID-19 than people with other acute illnesses.'

However, the prevalence of ME/CFS 'could impose a very high burden on society and our healthcare system,' she said.

One major caveat though is that ME/CFS is difficult to diagnose, as there is no gold-standard test to find the disease. This means that symptoms like exhaustion could be due to other illnesses.  

The researchers recruited 4,378 participants ages 18 to 64 who tested positive for Covid between December 2020 and August 2022 and were symptomatic. 

Patients older than 65 were excluded to rule out 'age-related' illnesses that could contribute to ME/CFS.

The average participant age was 38, and about 68 percent of patients were female.  

At each three-month follow-up, approximately one-third of participants in both groups reported at least one of the following five symptoms: postexertional malaise (feeling tired after minimal physical or mental activity), unrefreshing sleep, fatigue, orthostatic intolerance (difficulty standing or sitting upright), and cognitive impairment.

This suggests that patients who did and did not have Covid had a similar symptom presentation. 

Unrefreshing sleep was the most common symptom in both groups. 

'Our findings suggest that COVID-19 is no more likely than other acute infections to be associated with ME/CFS and that acute illnesses more broadly may be associated with chronic symptom burden from ME/CFS,' the researchers wrote. 

There were several limitations to the research, including the possibility of false-positive test results and symptoms being self-reported. 

However, the research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that long Covid could be overblown or debunked. 

One major study from researchers in the US, UK, and Denmark claimed that the risks of long Covid have been 'greatly exaggerated' and that the condition is too 'broadly defined.' 

Other experts have argued that the condition is 'indistinguishable' from other post-viral illnesses.  

The new study was published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open.