Interventions for Improving Long COVID-19 Symptomatology: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: Although the understanding of several aspects of long COVID-19 syndrome is increasing, there is limited literature regarding the treatment of these signs and symptoms. The aim of our systematic review was to understand which therapies have proved effective against the symptoms of long COVID-19. Methods: A systematic search for randomized controlled or clinical trials in several databases was conducted through 15 May 2022. Specific inclusion criteria included: (1) intervention studies, either randomized controlled (RCTs) or clinical trials; (2) diagnosis of long COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization criteria; (3) presence of long COVID-19 for at least 12 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results: We initially found 1638 articles to screen. After removing 1602 works based on their title/abstract, we considered 35 full texts, and among them, two intervention studies were finally included. The first RCT focused on the greater improvement of treatment combining olfactory rehabilitation with oral supplementation with Palmitoylethanolamide and Luteolin in patients with olfactory dysfunction after COVID-19. The second study evaluated the positive impact of aromatherapy vs. standard care in adult females affected by fatigue. Conclusion: Our systematic review found only two intervention studies focused on patients affected by long COVID-19. More intervention studies are needed to investigate potentially positive interventions for long COVID-19 symptoms.

Incidence of long COVID-19 in people with previous SARS-Cov2 infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 120,970 patients

“…Respiratory symptomatology, such as dyspnea, and general signs and symptoms, such as fatigue, may affect between one quarter and one-third of all long CVOID patients. Moreover, different inclusion/exclusion criteria indicated that long COVID is a long-term condition that will likely be experienced over coming years and with current limited therapeutical options [ 20 ].…”

“…In the opinion of the present authors, long COVID represents a major public-health problem, both because of its incidence in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and because of the lack of effective therapeutic strategies to date [ 20 ]. Published literature regarding the possible treatment is still limited, and studies published until now were limited by lack of homogeneity owing to varying study designs, settings, populations, follow-up period and symptoms description.…”

Reflexiones sobre la atención primaria del siglo xxi

“…La aparición de la covid-19 persistente, que puede llegar a afectar hasta el 43% de los pacientes tras la infección aguda 14 , supone otro reto para el médico de familia que se enfrenta a una nueva enfermedad de la que se desconoce su etiopatogenia y con mucha incertidumbre sobre su tratamiento 15 .…”

The Potential of Ameliorating COVID-19 and Sequelae From Andrographis paniculata via Bioinformatics

“…However, there has not been an official announcement of a specialized therapeutic strategy for post-COVID syndrome yet, and there is not much clinical data about such a treatment plan. 2 - 4 …”