Research Finds Patients With COVID-Like Symptoms Took Up to Nine Months to Return to Top Mental Wellbeing

New research suggests that “people with COVID-like symptoms returned to optimal physical wellbeing an average of three months after infection, but took up to nine months to return to top mental wellbeing.”

One year after infection, 20% of the study participants were still reporting suboptimal health-related quality of life (HRQoL). 75% of the study participants tested positive for COVID-19 and the rest tested negative. The COVID-positive participants were “statistically likelier to return to optimal [HRQoL] than their COVID-negative counterparts across up to a year post-infection.” This suggests that “health authorities may have previously underestimated the long-term effects of other, non-COVID infections on one’s wellbeing.”

The study was conducted “under the umbrella of INSPIRE (Innovative Support for Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infections Registry).” It comprised “4,700 participants who experienced COVID-like symptoms between December 11, 2020 and August 29, 2022.” Responses were examined from 1,096 COVID-positive and 317 COVID-negative participants regarding “physical function, anxiety, depression, fatigue, social participation, sleep disturbance, pain interference, and cognitive function.”

The researchers wrote that “a substantial proportion of participants continued to report poor HRQoL, whether or not the inciting acute symptoms were due to SARS-CoV-2 or another illness. … Recovery in mental wellbeing appeared to be more gradual, with significant improvements manifesting more profoundly between 6 and 9 months after infection.” Plus, “approximately 1 in 5 respondents remained in the poor overall HRQoL group with a high likelihood of self-reporting long COVID up to 12 months after initial infection.”