# About half have meaningful drop in long COVID symptoms by 36 months, study finds

Source: [Medical Xpress - latest medical and health news stories](https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-11-meaningful-covid-symptoms-months.html) · 2026-11-10 · Medicine
Page: https://themorning.science/story/about-half-have-meaningful-drop-in-long-covid-symptoms-by-36-months-study-finds-b504be6280cd76f4
Kind: research · Impact: medium

## In brief

- A study published online November 3 in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that about one-half of people with likely long COVID after a first severe SARS-CoV-2 infection had a meaningful reduction in symptoms by 36 months.
- The finding reports that roughly half of these patients improved, which means the other half did not show a meaningful reduction by that point.

## Why it matters

The results give clinicians and researchers a longer-term estimate of how often long COVID symptoms meaningfully improve after a severe first infection, which helps set realistic expectations for patients.

## Timeline

- 2026-11-03: Study published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine

## Coverage

- [About half have meaningful drop in long COVID symptoms by 36 months, study finds](https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-11-meaningful-covid-symptoms-months.html) — Medical Xpress - latest medical and health news stories, 2026-11-10

Tags: long covid, covid-19, symptom recovery, clinical research, post-viral illness

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science