Therapy may be the only treatment to successfully cure lingering Covid symptoms, landmark new research has suggested.
Canadian scientists found talking therapies and physical and mental rehabilitation ‘probably improve symptoms’ among those struck down with the virus.
But there was ‘no compelling evidence’ that certain drugs, dietary supplements or oxygen therapy could effectively treat the phenomenon now better known as long Covid.
US officials suggest one in ten people who catch the virus will develop long Covid, while around two million people in the UK are reported to live with the condition, including 112,000 children.
Symptoms have long been thought to be wide-ranging, from fatigue and breathlessness to muscle and joint pain.
In the study, researchers from McMaster University in Ontario assessed the findings of 24 separate trials involving 3,695 patients with the condition.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, they said the evidence ‘suggests that a programme of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) probably reduces fatigue and improves cognitive function in patients with long Covid’.
They also found ‘intermittent’ aerobic exercise three to five times a week for four to six weeks, ‘probably improves physical function’ and recovery.
However, they acknowledged that both CBT and physical and mental health rehabilitation ‘may be challenging’.
This is because patients may ‘express concerns about the safety and efficacy of these approaches’ given it ‘implies that long Covid is not “real” but “pyschological”.
The scientists, however, acknowledged the study had some limitations including ‘possibly missing eligible trials’.
Dr Daniel Munblit, an expert in paediatric long term conditions at King’s College London, who was not involved in the research, also said: ‘This is top-quality research following state-of-the-art methodology and authors did their best to account for limitations.’
He added: ‘The work underscores the importance of addressing patient concerns and scepticism surrounding CBT and rehabilitation, particularly the misconception that their effectiveness implies a purely “psychological” basis for long Covid.
‘Most importantly, the research did not find compelling evidence to support other interventions, including various medications (vortioxetine, leronlimab), dietary supplements (synbiotics, coenzyme Q10), and other therapies (amygdala and insula retraining, transcranial direct current stimulation, hyperbaric oxygen).’
Long Covid has been thrust back into the spotlight recently, after Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s daughter Violet Affleck revealed she contracted a ‘post-viral infection’ in 2019.
In a passionate speech to the LA County Board of Supervisors in July, she urged medical facilities to impose ‘mask mandates’.
In the UK, ministers have repeatedly said they won’t resort to imposing lockdowns unless a doomsday Covid variant appears.
A wall of immunity among the population — built up by repeated waves of infection and vaccine rollouts — has given officials confidence to consign pandemic-era measures to history.
Spikes in Covid cases can still cause mass illness across the country, sparking chaos in schools, the health service and public transport.
But officials also no longer track the prevalence of the virus in the same way they used to, as part of the Government’s ushering in of pre-Covid normalities.
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