No lab test can be used to diagnose Long COVID Out of 25 standard blood and urine tests, none could sort people with Long COVID from healthy people Future research will focus on coming up with new lab tests TUESDAY, Aug. 13, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- No lab test can reliably indicate whether or not someone is suffering from Long COVID, a major new study finds. None of 25 standard lab blood and urine tests proved useful in diagnosing Long COVID, according to results published Aug.
13 in the "Our study shows patients can have severe Long COVID with normal lab results,” said lead researcher , a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. “This suggests doctors should not focus on the results of blood panels to diagnose Long COVID, but should focus more on symptoms and ways to help patients get relief by treating their symptoms," Erlandson added in a university news release. About 7% of adults in the United States -- nearly 18 million people -- have Long COVID, researchers said in background notes.
Long COVID typically develops weeks after an initial infection with , and can involve a plethora of symptoms that plague a person for months or even years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For this study, researchers analyzed data from more than 10,000 people participating in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiative called RECOVER, which is aimed at better understanding Long COVID. About 86% of the .