Nationwide population-based study finds no clinically meaningful biomarkers for long COVID in infected individuals, indicating ongoing challenges for targeted therapeutic development.
Long COVID, characterized by persistent symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 infection, affects an estimated 400 million people worldwide. The absence of reliable biomarkers has hindered progress toward targeted therapies. We investigated potential biomarkers of long COVID in a nationwide study of people in the Faroe Islands ( n = 218, aged ≥ 15 years) who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the spring (wave 1, n = 101) and autumn (wave 2, n = 117) of 2020. Although we investigated a multitude of possible clinical, neurological, and paraclinical biomarkers, no convincing biomarker was found. We found that lower INR was associated with long COVID (adjusted odds ratio 0.66, 95% confidence interval 0.46–0.95, p = 0.03), but despite the statistically significant association, no clinical significance was observed because all INR values were within the normal range.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Helmsdal et al. (2026) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: