For the treatment of Long Covid in Italy there is a certain heterogeneity in the care made available by the 124 centers surveyed, in some cases there is a lack of connection between hospital structures, local services and basic medicine, and there is no shortage of organizational challenges, also relating to financing. The photograph is contained in a summary report just published by the WHO, which reviews the approach to the management of this condition in some European countries, including Italy.
The work presented in the report is coordinated, for the part concerning Italy, by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Some of the centers, it emerged, did not provide rehabilitation services or care for the nutritional or cognitive aspects of those who turned to them. To instead give uniformity to a model of care in our country from the month of December 2022 were released the guidelines of the Istituto Superiore di Sanitàwhich today represent the scientific basis to refer to in the treatment of this syndrome and which also represent a model proposed internationallywith constant updating by experts.
The cornerstone on which healthcare is based, we read in the document, is given by clinical complexity of the cases and rests on aintersection between hospital and local medicine.
Anyone who has been admitted to a hospital for the consequences linked to the Covid infection will be able to refer to a hospital centre, especially if it is a highly complex patient, while a connection is needed between the referring doctor and the structure for low complexity cases. Those who have not been hospitalized will be more likely to turn to their family doctor or pediatrician, especially if it is an uncomplicated case.
However, in addition to organizational challenges linked to Long Covid in our country, there are also others relating to financing. In fact, based on a 2021 ministerial decree, the report highlights that funds for the treatment of people with Long Covid were foreseen until 2023, while now the management of those with this syndrome varies from Region to Region.
The role of the ISS in collecting information on Long Covid
Italy contributed to the collection of information on Long Covid by the WHO by reporting the results of CCM project “Analysis and response strategies to the long-term effects of the COVID-19 (Long Covid) infection”financed by the Ministry of Health and coordinated by the ISS.
Through the data from the CCM project, our country contributed to the report with data from general medicine relating to the symptoms of over 70,000 patients with previous SARS-CoV-2 infectiona document of guidelines for the management of the Long-Covid condition developed by clinical experts with patient representation, the description of the characteristics of the Long-Covid assistance centers identified by a national survey coordinated by the ISSand a large one data collection carried out by three Regional Health Agencies (Friuli, Tuscany, Puglia) on the use of healthcare resources linked to previous Covid.
The project, which also involved various clinical centers of universities and hospitals and clinical networks of IRCCS, scientific hospitalization and treatment institutes, is nearing completion, and the updated results will be presented on May 22nd at a conference organized by ISS and Gemelli Foundation.
