Dear Colleagues,
The COVID-19 pandemic, with its high morbidity and mortality properties which impaired the healthcare systems of numerous countries, is acquiring a more endemic aspect. The long-term effects of the pandemic will burden patients, even those with paucisymptomatic forms.
The five most commonly reported long-term symptoms of COVID-19 are fatigue (58%), headache (44%), attention disorder (27%), hair loss (25%), and dyspnea (24%). Thus, multi-disciplinary teams are crucial to developing preventive measures, rehabilitation techniques, and clinical management strategies with whole-patient perspectives designed to address long-COVID care. Physicians should be aware of the range of symptoms, signs, and biomarkers present in patients previously affected by COVID-19 to promptly assess, identify and halt the progression of long COVID, minimize the risk of chronic effects, and help reestablish pre-COVID-19 health. Management of all these effects will require individualized, dynamic cross-sectoral interventions in Post-COVID-19 clinics with multiple specialties, including graded exercise, physical therapy, frequent medical evaluations, and cognitive behavioral therapy as required.
This multidisciplinary collection of articles will contribute to studies and field research aimed at reducing heterogeneity and improving the understanding of the long-term effects of COVID-19, providing a reference for a large audience of physicians, scientists and students.
This Special Issue welcomes articles on all clinical topics related to long COVID-19, including:
- The frequency and relevance of the most common long COVID symptoms, including fatigue, anosmia, lung dysfunction, abnormal chest X-ray/CT, and neurological disorders;
- Distinction between the long-COVID-related fatigue and the pre-existing chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) or Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), with severe incapacitating fatigue, pain, neurocognitive disability, and compromised sleep.
- Analysis of neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety disorders, insomnia, and dementia;
- Respiratory symptoms (such as dyspnea and cough) along with abnormalities in CT lung scans, along with their clinical relevance and long-term consequences;
- Alterations in cellular and humoral responses involved in COVID-19-related tissue damages relevant to the progression to chronic form of the disease;
- Effective molecules (innovative molecules or repurposing drugs) for treatment of long COVID.
- Innovative health management that is more effective and adaptable to unpredictable emerging conditions.
Dr. Elisabetta F. Buonaguro
Dr. Felice Iasevoli
Dr. Franco M. Buonaguro
Dr. Elisabetta F. Buonaguro
Dr. Felice Iasevoli
Dr. Franco M. Buonaguro
