Hormonal, metabolic and metabolomic biomarkers in long COVID - PubMed
2 hours ago
- #long COVID
- #biomarkers
- #metabolomics
- Long COVID (LC) affects 6-12% of individuals post-infection with persistent symptoms lasting at least three months.
- No specific diagnostic tests exist for LC, necessitating reliable biomarkers.
- Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in LC but lacks specificity for diagnosis.
- Insulin resistance markers correlate with fatigue, mood disturbances, and myalgia.
- Lower cortisol frequently links to fatigue, sensory, and neurocognitive symptoms.
- Hormonal alterations suggest hypothalamic-pituitary axis involvement but are often transient or nonsignificant.
- Thyroid dysfunction and autoimmunity show no significant association with LC.
- LC activates the kynurenine pathway, with increased metabolites linked to fatigue and neurocognitive symptoms.
- Emerging metabolites of mitochondrial dysfunction and lipid metabolism need further validation.
- Research limitations include small sample sizes; future work should standardize assessments and explore therapies.