That there is only a 1% absolute difference is even below what we have seen historically with "Culture Syndromes" which we later learned were result of suggestion/nocebo. In a sane world, that statistic would be considered by PH as possible evidence Long Covid was overstated and perhaps in line with other Post Viral Syndromes.
Medical historian Edward Shorter's 1992 book "From Paralysis to Fatigue" chronicles the history of many somatic/psychogenic illnesses which were long accepted by the medical community such as sudden paralysis, Charcot's early views on hysteria, Clitoridectomy to treat insanity, etc, before proposing the appearance of CFS in the late 20th century is also largely a Cultural Syndrome. All of the debunked hysterias had higher rates than +1%.
I can just imagine Zeynep in the 1860's pleading with hysterical young women to consider a clitoridectomy.
Great time to re-read on this piece from NYT last year:
"Two years ago, during the worst of the Covid pandemic, my colleagues and I told ourselves what now seems like a naïve story."
"In the wake of this virus, we would develop a robust system of follow-up care for the patients who had been sickest in our hospital, many of whom were from medically underserved communities. We knew that survivors of severe illness and lengthy hospitalization were likely to be affected by the unintended legacy of critical care, termed post-intensive care syndrome — anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and cognitive dysfunction. To say nothing of the scarred lungs and profound weakness that could come from weeks on a ventilator."
"With this in mind, we developed the Covid Recovery Center, a clinic — like many others throughout the country — dedicated to serving patients who had been stricken with Covid-19 and its aftereffects. Surely those who bore the brunt of this illness would benefit from dedicated screening and follow-up that might not otherwise be accessible to them."
"And yet when it opened, the clinic was deluged with self-referrals from patients who had not been hospitalized. Instead, they were experiencing what we now know as “long Covid” — a constellation of debilitating fatigue, shortness of breath, neurologic symptoms and more that can occur even after mild infection."
"Still, of the more than 1,200 patients seen at our clinic between April 2021 and April 2022, nearly 80 percent were white and just over 70 percent were female. In contrast, it seemed those that we cared for in the hospital, particularly in the first pandemic wave, were disproportionately Black and Hispanic men. “Looking at the data, we know we’re not seeing the patients who bore the brunt of Covid hospitalizations,”
Great work as usual Kelley. Your scrupulous fairness is always appreciated. Since I have no such scruples, I'll just go ahead and say that it's not surprising in the least that Zeynep would conclude there is a single cause behind these issues. Least surprising thing ever.
From a questionnaire design perspective, that is a horrible, multi-barreled item that is overlapping multiple concepts: "Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, do you have serious difficulty concentrating [concept 1], remembering [concept 2], or making decisions [concept 3]?"
Further, what's the recall period? I have trouble remembering if I had difficulty making decisions just yesterday...
The CIDRAP article from a few weeks ago made similar claims and the Covidians neglected to acknowledge that 2/3 of those who had long long COVID were females. At least they acknowledged vaccination status iirc.
This study doesn't tell us gender or vaccine status, as well as being based on a number of prior faulty conclusions (as noted by KK).
Of COURSE vaccines are the major cause. Any idiot with two brain cells to rub together knows this now.
We should probably be ignoring these people at this point. Those who still believes the absolute garbage propaganda from Zeyding Topezattone is suffering from a virus in the brain, not their respiratory system. And it is definitely loooong.
That there is only a 1% absolute difference is even below what we have seen historically with "Culture Syndromes" which we later learned were result of suggestion/nocebo. In a sane world, that statistic would be considered by PH as possible evidence Long Covid was overstated and perhaps in line with other Post Viral Syndromes.
Medical historian Edward Shorter's 1992 book "From Paralysis to Fatigue" chronicles the history of many somatic/psychogenic illnesses which were long accepted by the medical community such as sudden paralysis, Charcot's early views on hysteria, Clitoridectomy to treat insanity, etc, before proposing the appearance of CFS in the late 20th century is also largely a Cultural Syndrome. All of the debunked hysterias had higher rates than +1%.
I can just imagine Zeynep in the 1860's pleading with hysterical young women to consider a clitoridectomy.
Great time to re-read on this piece from NYT last year:
"Where Are All Our Post-Covid Patients?"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/26/opinion/post-covid-care.html
"Two years ago, during the worst of the Covid pandemic, my colleagues and I told ourselves what now seems like a naïve story."
"In the wake of this virus, we would develop a robust system of follow-up care for the patients who had been sickest in our hospital, many of whom were from medically underserved communities. We knew that survivors of severe illness and lengthy hospitalization were likely to be affected by the unintended legacy of critical care, termed post-intensive care syndrome — anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and cognitive dysfunction. To say nothing of the scarred lungs and profound weakness that could come from weeks on a ventilator."
"With this in mind, we developed the Covid Recovery Center, a clinic — like many others throughout the country — dedicated to serving patients who had been stricken with Covid-19 and its aftereffects. Surely those who bore the brunt of this illness would benefit from dedicated screening and follow-up that might not otherwise be accessible to them."
"And yet when it opened, the clinic was deluged with self-referrals from patients who had not been hospitalized. Instead, they were experiencing what we now know as “long Covid” — a constellation of debilitating fatigue, shortness of breath, neurologic symptoms and more that can occur even after mild infection."
"Still, of the more than 1,200 patients seen at our clinic between April 2021 and April 2022, nearly 80 percent were white and just over 70 percent were female. In contrast, it seemed those that we cared for in the hospital, particularly in the first pandemic wave, were disproportionately Black and Hispanic men. “Looking at the data, we know we’re not seeing the patients who bore the brunt of Covid hospitalizations,”
Great work as usual Kelley. Your scrupulous fairness is always appreciated. Since I have no such scruples, I'll just go ahead and say that it's not surprising in the least that Zeynep would conclude there is a single cause behind these issues. Least surprising thing ever.
From a questionnaire design perspective, that is a horrible, multi-barreled item that is overlapping multiple concepts: "Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, do you have serious difficulty concentrating [concept 1], remembering [concept 2], or making decisions [concept 3]?"
Further, what's the recall period? I have trouble remembering if I had difficulty making decisions just yesterday...
The CIDRAP article from a few weeks ago made similar claims and the Covidians neglected to acknowledge that 2/3 of those who had long long COVID were females. At least they acknowledged vaccination status iirc.
This study doesn't tell us gender or vaccine status, as well as being based on a number of prior faulty conclusions (as noted by KK).
Of COURSE vaccines are the major cause. Any idiot with two brain cells to rub together knows this now.
We should probably be ignoring these people at this point. Those who still believes the absolute garbage propaganda from Zeyding Topezattone is suffering from a virus in the brain, not their respiratory system. And it is definitely loooong.
We should really be ignoring