They then did a massive battery of tests - inflammation biomarkers, nerve damage biomarkers, lung function, congestive ability, etc.
And the conclusion? There was no difference between the groups: there are no diagnostic findings that would allow you to even say for sure that post-Covid even exists, biochemically.
This is the "I closed your bug report because it works on my machine" of medicine.
When people complain of lung or heart problems but all tests are normal (oxygen levels, cardiac efficiency, lung capacity, exercise tolerance).
When people claim cognitive decline yet all measures of cognitive ability are normal.
It would point to a strong psychological component for at least some people - which was found in the study. Symptoms were correlated with those having a history of anxiety disorders (prior to Covid).
There was also another study (I can’t find it right now) of self-reported long Covid suffers.
They ran tests and many of them had never even been infected with Covid..ever.
This isn’t to say that post-viral syndromes aren’t real. But it does suggest that self-reporting isn’t all that accurate.
To anticipate: "Objective" measures are of course useful, but only form part of any picture.
And this data helps to narrow down possible treatments based on solid data with regards to system dysfunction.
So we search deeper. And sometimes we find something: https://mylongcoviddiaries.medium.com/i-finally-have-a-diagn...