Symptoms

The clinical manifestations of Long-CoViD are heterogeneous, and a person with this disease may present with one or more of the following symptoms or conditions:

- respiratory: dyspnea, persistent cough, and decreased ability to expand the rib cage;

- cardiovascular: tightness and pain in the chest, tachycardia and palpitations at the slightest exertion, arrhythmias, and change in blood pressure;

- neurological: headache that may occur as a new symptom or as a worsening of pre-existing symptoms: attacks may be more frequent or the pain may last longer than usual; cognitive impairment, which manifests itself with difficulty in concentration and attention, memory problems, difficulty in executive functions (especially in those who are elderly and / or already with cognitive deficits); peripheral neuropathy and dysautonomia, or the malfunction of the autonomic or vegetative nervous system that controls involuntary body functions;

- changes in hearing, smell, taste: disorders of the sense of smell, such as hyposmia or parosmia, dysfunction of swallowing and taste (food may taste bland, salty, sweet or metallic), tinnitus, otalgia, dysphonia and sore throat (discomfort such as pain, irritable cough, feeling of stagnant mucus in the throat and feeling the need to clear the throat);

- gastrointestinal: loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dyspepsia, gastroesophageal reflux, belching, abdominal distension. Currently, several studies are evaluating the long-term consequences of CoViD-19 at the gastrointestinal level including post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome;

- dermatological: the most common skin manifestation is erythema pernio (vulgarly called "chilblain"), followed by papulo-squamous eruptions (i.e. characterized by redness, swelling and scaly blisters) and rash. Other consequences may be alopecia, which however lasts less than six months. With regard to immune-mediated pathologies with dermatological manifestations, cases of psoriasis exacerbation and appearance of latent forms have been described;

- haematological: the development of venous thromboembolic disease in the post-acute phase of CoViD-19 has been observed in particular;

- endocrinological: new-onset diabetic ketoacidosis (without a previous diagnosis of diabetes mellitus) and thyroiditis;

- psychological/psychiatric: poor and unrestorative sleep, chronic malaise, mood depression (feeling sad, irritable and impatient with others, losing interest in activities previously enjoyed, finding it difficult to make decisions, having negative thoughts), anxiety, delirium and psychosis. Compulsory social distance undoubtedly exacerbated these complaints. Some patients may present with symptoms related to posttraumatic stress disorder.