Articles: covid-19.
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Persistent symptoms after severe acute respiratory disease coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2; long COVID) occur in 10%-55% of individuals, but the impact on daily functioning and disability remains unquantified. ⋯ We observed a high burden of new disability associated with long COVID, which has serious implications for individual and societal health. Longitudinal evaluation of COVID-19 patients is necessary to identify patterns of recovery and treatment options.
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Personal characteristics may be associated with believing misinformation and not believing in best practices to protect oneself from COVID-19. ⋯ Lower educational attainment and health literacy, greater medical mistrust, and certain sources of health information are associated with misinformed COVID-19 beliefs. Programs addressing misinformation should focus on groups affected by these social determinants of health by encouraging reliance on scientific sources.
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Observational Study
Clinical and Laboratory Characteristics of Fatigue-dominant Long-COVID subjects: A Cross-Sectional Study.
Long COVID is defined by persistent symptoms following COVID-19 infection. Approximately 71% of individuals with long COVID experience ongoing fatigue, postexertional malaise, and cognitive impairments, which share pathological similarities with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). This similarity has prompted studies to explore the characteristics of long COVID to gain a better understanding of ME/CFS. To gain insights, we investigated the clinical and laboratory characteristics of individuals with fatigue-dominant long COVID. ⋯ Our findings provide the first insights into the characteristics of fatigue in individuals with long COVID, particularly in terms of fatigue severity and cortisol levels. These results serve as valuable reference data for clinicians dealing with fatigue symptoms in long-COVID patients and for researchers exploring postviral fatigue symptoms, including ME/CFS, in the future.
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In contrast to abundant research on the various acute mental effects of COVID-19, the long-term influences of the pandemic are still underexplored in China owing to the paucity of assessment tools. The Pandemic Disengagement Syndrome Scale (PDSS) assesses people's social disengagement as a lasting psychological consequence in Western countries during the post-COVID-19 pandemic era. However, its generalizability across cultures is untested. ⋯ The findings indicated that disengagement syndrome may exist among Chinese people even substantially after the acute phases of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Chinese PDSS demonstrating acceptable psychometric features can be a valid instrument to assess the syndrome. Several possible reasons for the persistence of disengagement in China are discussed.