Response to Goldman and Martin on the External Clinical Validation of the RECOVER Research Index

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The study evaluated the RECOVER PASC score in a rigorously phenotyped specialty referral cohort, not in the general population.
2

Expert clinical diagnosis using the 2024 NASEM consensus definition served as the reference standard because Long COVID lacks a biological gold standard.
3

Participants had to exhibit at least one neuropsychiatric manifestation, but enrollment did not depend on RECOVER PASC score results or threshold criteria.
4

Recovered SARS-CoV-2 controls were selected to assess discrimination between clinically diagnosed Long COVID and uncomplicated recovery.
5

The RECOVER PASC score showed high specificity but limited sensitivity in the clinically characterized cohort, and predictive values should not be extrapolated beyond it.

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