INCREASES AND SOME LEGAL WORK REQUIREMENTS.

>>> A NEW STUDIES REVEALING INTRIGUING PATTERNS IN LONG COVID PATIENTS.

RESEARCHERS HAVE EVALUATED 600 LONG COVID PATIENTS AT THE NORTHWESTERN MEDICINE NEUROLOGY CLINIC.

THEY FOUND DIFFERENCES IN THE NEUROLOGICAL EXAMS OF HOSPITALIZED AND NON-HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS IN THE PERIODS BEFORE VACCINES WERE AVAILABLE.

AS A COVID PANDEMIC ENTERS ITS FOURTH YEAR, LATINOS ARE STILL DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTED BY THE ENVIRONS.

MANY CASES ARE AMONGST LATINOS DESPITE MAKING UP A SMALL PORTION OF THE POPULATION.

I WANT TO WELCOME YOU AND THANK YOU FOR JOINING US TODAY.

I WANT TO START WITH EXPLAINING A BIT OF WHAT LONG COVID IS .

>> SURE.

LONG COVID, MOST DEFINITIONS ARE AFTER ACUTE INFECTIONS WITH THE VIRUS.

IF YOUR SYMPTOMS PERSIST BEYOND 30 DAYS THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS WILL SAY THREE MONTHS, IF YOU HAVE SYMPTOMS BEYOND THAT POINT, THIS IS GENERALLY WHAT WE SEE WHEN WE SAY LONG COVID.

>> WHAT PROMPTED THIS?

>> THE STUDY THAT WE DID, IT WAS PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL OF MEDICINE, IT IS ONE WHERE WE LOOK BACK ON 1200 PATIENTS WITH OUR CENTER'S INVOLVEMENT AND PATIENTS WITH LONG COVID.

WE LOOK BACK ON THESE INDIVIDUALS TO ASK OURSELVES WHAT TYPES OF PATTERNS THEY HAVE IN THE TEST RESULTS AND WHAT WERE SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INDIVIDUALS?

IN THIS STUDY WE LOOKED AT INDIVIDUALS.

>> HOW DID YOU CHOOSE THESE PATIENTS?

>> YES, SO, WHEN WE OPENED OUR CENTER IN MAY OF 2020, WE WANTED TO LOOK AT -- [ INAUDIBLE ].

WE WANTED TO KNOW WHAT WERE THE DEMOGRAPHICS.

OVER THE TYPES OF INDIVIDUALS THAT WE HAD.

HOW SUCCESSFUL WAS IT IN TERMS OF ALLOWING ACCESS TO DIFFERENT POPULATIONS AND WHEN WE DID TEST THESE INDIVIDUALS, AND WE HAD NEUROLOGICAL QUESTIONNAIRES, -- >> OKAY, IS THERE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TYPE OF COVID AND THE SUB VARIANT OF COVID THAT MIGHT BE MORE LIKELY TO GIVE PATIENTS -- >> OUR SITE DIDN'T LOOK AT THE IMPACTS OF THE VARIANCE ON THE INDIVIDUALS.

A LOT OF OUR INDIVIDUALS CAME FROM DIFFERENT WAVES OF THE PANDEMICS.

EARLIER, LATER, AND WE DID NOT NECESSARILY DRAW A PARALLEL BETWEEN THOSE IN OUR STUDY.

>> DID IT SUGGEST ANYTHING ABOUT WHO MIGHT BE MORE SUCCESSFUL -- SUSCEPTIBLE?

>> ANYONE WHO WORKED IN THE ICU , PATIENTS OF LATINO BACKGROUND OR AFRICAN-AMERICANS WERE MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE WORSE OUTCOMES OF COVID.

IT WAS PALPABLE DURING THE TIME IN WHICH HOSPITALS WERE INUNDATED.

WE HAD EXTREME MANIFESTATIONS OF THE DISEASE.

SO, MORE AND MORE MODERATELY ONE HOSPITALS ARE LEFT FILLED UP WE DO HAVE A KEY I ON IMPROVING ACCESS TO THESE OTHER POPULATIONS THAT WE KNEW WERE DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTED.

>> ANY NEW IDEAS ABOUT THE TREATMENT FOR LONG COVID AFTER THIS?

>> WHAT CAN BE SAID IS THAT THERE IS NOT A ONE SIZE FITS ALL APPROACH TO MANAGING LONG COVID.

THE STUDY WOULD BE DONE THAT TRIES TO TREAT LONG COVID, KEEP IN MIND, THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT MANIFESTATIONS AND SYMPTOMS.

PATIENTS COULD HAVE BRAIN FOG, A PERSISTENT COUGH, THEY MAY NEED TO BE MANAGED DIFFERENTLY IN THE END.

>> DOES THE STUDY SUGGEST MORE VACCINATION?

>> VACCINATION IS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL SO FAR.

WE DON'T HAVE A GOOD STRATEGY OTHERWISE TO PROTECT PEOPLE FROM LONG COVID.

VACCINATION IS ALWAYS RECOMMENDED.

>> WHAT ABOUT THE CARE FOR PATIENTS?

>> SO, A LOT OF WHAT STUDIES ARE SHOWING IS THAT THERE WERE MULTIPLE SPECIALTIES ON AN INDIVIDUAL AND IT SEEMS TO BE IMPORTANT.

IF SOMEONE HAS MORE NEUROLOGICAL MANIFESTATIONS , THAT PERSON SHOULD BE SEEN BY A NEUROLOGIST WHO SPECIALIZES IN THIS.

SIMILAR TO CARDIOLOGY AND LUNG HEALTH AS WELL.

MULTIPLE PROVIDERS SEEM TO HAVE -- FOR TREATING PATIENTS.

>> HOW WOULD YOU SAY THAT THIS STUDY CAN BE CONDUCTED DIFFERENTLY TO INCLUDE A MORE DIVERSE SET OF PARTICIPANTS?

>> STUDIES IN GENERAL NEED TO INCLUDE PATIENTS FROM ALL BACK GROUNDS ACROSS THE BOARD SO WE CAN LOOK AT THE POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND BEYOND.

WHETHER IT IS ADVERTISING THAT THE STUDY IS DONE, IMPROVING RESEARCH IN GENERAL, IT IS GOING TO BE AN IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL PROCESS .

WHEN WE DO THIS RESEARCH WE WANT TO HELP EVERYONE.

>> YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT 1200?

>> 1200 INDIVIDUALS.

>> DO WE KNOW HOW MANY LATINOS WERE PART OF IT?

>> IT WAS A MINORITY OF INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE IN OUR LONG COVID EXPERIMENT TO SITE -- DESPITE BARRIERS AND TRYING TO REMOVE BARRIERS.

IT DOES NOT REPRESENT THE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE ACTUALLY HAD LONG COVID.

>> WHAT ARE THOSE BARRIERS?

>> A BIG PART OF IT IS EDUCATION THAT WE EXIST .

KNOWING ABOUT LONG COVID AND THAT IS A THING AND IT CAN DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECT INDIVIDUALS OF DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS AS WELL, NOT JUST THOSE WHO, YOU KNOW, [ INAUDIBLE ].

KNOWING ABOUT LONG COVID , WHO TO ACCESS, AND OTHER FACTORS .

>> RIGHT.

THERE IS A CHANCE OF GETTING LONG COVID AGAIN.

>> THERE IS.

IT BECOMES CLEAR THAT YOU CAN GET LONG COVID AFTER YOUR THIRD OR FOURTH INFECTION WITH COVID.

PERSISTENT SYMPTOMS AFTER YOUR