Critical Care volume 28,
Article number: 283 (2024) Published: 29 August 2024
Abstract
Long-Covid (LC), Post-Sepsis-Syndrome (PSS) and
Post-Intensive-Care-Syndrome (PICS) show remarkable overlaps in their clinical
presentation. Nevertheless, it is unclear if they are distinct syndromes, which
may co-occur in the same patient, or if they are three different labels to
describe similar symptoms, assigned on the basis on patient history and
professional perspective of the treating physician. Therefore, we reviewed the
current literature on the relation between LC, PSS and PICS. To date, the three
syndromes cannot reliably be distinguished due similarities in clinical
presentation as they share the cognitive, psychological and physical
impairments with only different probabilities of occurrence and a heterogeneity
in individual expression. The diagnosis is furthermore hindered by a lack of
specific diagnostic tools. It can be concluded that survivors after COVID-19
sepsis likely have more frequent and more severe consequences than patients
with milder COVID-19 courses, and that are some COVID-19-specific sequelae,
e.g. an increased risk for venous thromboembolism in the 30 days after the
acute disease, which occur less often after sepsis of other causes. Patients
may profit from leveraging synergies from PICS, PSS and LC treatment as well as
from experiences gained from infection-associated chronic conditions in
general. Disentangling molecular pathomechanisms may enable future targeted
therapies that go beyond symptomatic treatment.
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