As 2022 draws to a close, many people want the COVID-19 pandemic to be a distant memory. But patients continue to deal with health and financial effects of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), or long COVID. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate more than 14% of all adults have experienced long COVID, and a Dec. 14 report estimated long COVID-related illness could be responsible for more than 3,500 deaths in the first 30 months of the pandemic.The American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (AAPM&R) has led the charge for a comprehensive national plan for physicians to help patients deal with neurological challenges and “brain fog,” shortness of breath, fatigue, pain, and mobility issues. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD, FAAPMR, is chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio, where she specializes in brain injury medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation.A volunteer leader and member of AAPM&R, Verduzco-Gutierrez sat down with Medical Economics to discuss her experience with long COVID: as a physician treating patients, as a patient needing care, and as an advocate for further research of the disease and support for those with it.She says primary care is crucial in diagnosing and treating long COVID. AAPM&R has online guidance statements for all physicians to consult for treating and following long COVID issues.The following transcript was edited for length and clarity.Medical Economics (ME): As a physician, how did you first encounter patients with long COVID?Monica Verduzco–Gutierrez: Because I’m a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation, some of the first patients we were seeing were ones who had been hospitalized and had impacts after hospitalization. And they had been very critically ill in the intensive care units and they were needing rehabilitation services. Now as COVID has changed, we have more treatments, more ability to treat patients, a lot of patients have mild disease, and we continue to see these patients, even if they have mild disease in clinics, and they still have impacts like fatigue, …
Physicians, patients want COVID-19 pandemic to end – but long COVID lingers – Medical Economics
