People who suffer severe COVID-19 may have long-term health impacts that are not yet known.

Judged at end-2021. TRUE: medical research or health-agency guidance by then documents lasting health effects after severe COVID-19 (e.g. long COVID or post-COVID conditions, lasting lung, heart, kidney or neurological damage, post-intensive-care syndrome) that were not understood in March 2020. MOSTLY TRUE: long-term effects are documented but mainly as preliminary or uncertain findings. MIXED: evidence is inconclusive. MOSTLY FALSE: studies find only minor or short-lived effects in most severe cases. FALSE: studies show that people who had severe COVID-19 generally recover without lasting effects.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Long Covid in adults discharged from UK hospitals after Covid-19: A prospective, multicentre cohort study using the ISARIC WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol The Lancet Regional Health – Europe (indexed on PubMed Central) · 6 August 2021

   “Survivors of Covid-19 experienced long-term symptoms, new disability, increased breathlessness, and reduced quality of life.”

2. E2 A clinical case definition of post COVID-19 condition by a Delphi consensus, 6 October 2021 World Health Organization · 6 October 2021

   “with the understanding that the definition may change as new evidence emerges and our understanding of the consequences of COVID-19 continues to evolve.”

3. E3 Living with Covid19 – Second review National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Evidence · 16 March 2021

   “We proposed that some people suffered permanent organ damage and there may also be a number of distinct syndromes, including post intensive care syndrome, post viral fatigue syndrome and long-term Covid syndrome.”

4. E4 Living with Covid19 – Second review National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Evidence · 16 March 2021

   “But we recognise it covers a wide range of symptoms, including a high number of post-viral fatigue cases that appear to resolve spontaneously by 8 to 12 weeks.”

E1, a prospective multicentre cohort study of adults discharged from UK hospitals published in August 2021, found that survivors had long-term symptoms, new disability, more breathlessness and lower quality of life. E3, an NIHR review from March 2021, proposed that some people suffered permanent organ damage and that there may be distinct syndromes, including post-intensive-care syndrome and long-term Covid syndrome. In October 2021, WHO published a clinical case definition of post COVID-19 condition and said understanding of its consequences was still evolving (E2). E4 notes that many post-viral fatigue cases resolve within 8 to 12 weeks, but that does not undo the lasting effects documented after severe disease, so the TRUE criterion is met by end-2021.