Subtypes of Post-COVID-19 Condition

Post‒COVID-19 condition, also known as long COVID, is a condition where people experience new or persisting symptoms after an initial COVID-19 illness. CADTH uses WHO’s definition of long COVID, which defines long COVID as people experiencing symptoms for more than 12 weeks after an initial COVID-19 infection. People with post‒COVID-19 condition may experience a range of symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, muscle aches, and cognitive and mental health challenges.

This report is part of CADTH’s Condition-Level Review on post-COVID-19 condition. Several subtypes, or different kinds, of post‒COVID-19 have been identified. There is still lots of uncertainty about what these subtypes are, and their possible impacts on health care systems. Given emerging evidence, there is a need to know more about subtypes of post‒COVID-19 condition and COVID-19 variants.

This CADTH report provides a custom summary examining the emerging evidence on subtypes of post‒COVID-19 condition. It also describes the emerging evidence about whether different variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) are associated with different subtypes of post‒COVID-19 condition.