Harvard Study Reveals Eight Distinct Long Covid Trajectories as 20M Americans Still Battle Symptoms

Researchers found eight distinct long COVID patterns, including delayed-onset symptoms that appear more than a year after infection. (Credit: analogicus/Pixabay)

Harvard Medical School researchers have identified eight distinct trajectories that long COVID can take, offering the first comprehensive classification of how the debilitating condition affects millions of Americans differently over time, according to a study published Monday in Nature Communications.

The research, conducted through the National Institutes of Health's Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery initiative, tracked nearly 3,700 adults who contracted COVID-19 during the Omicron era after December 2021. The findings come as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates nearly 20 million Americans continue struggling with long COVID symptoms.