Virus World

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is associated with a range of persistent symptoms impacting everyday functioning, known as post-COVID-19 condition or long COVID. We undertook a retrospective matched cohort study using a UK-based primary care database, Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum, to determine symptoms that are associated with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection beyond 12 weeks in non-hospitalized adults and the risk factors associated with developing persistent symptoms. We selected 486,149 adults with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and 1,944,580 propensity score-matched adults with no recorded evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Outcomes included 115 individual symptoms, as well as long COVID, defined as a composite outcome of 33 symptoms by the World Health Organization clinical case definition. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for the outcomes.

A total of 62 symptoms were significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection after 12 weeks. The largest aHRs were for anosmia (aHR 6.49, 95% CI 5.02–8.39), hair loss (3.99, 3.63–4.39), sneezing (2.77, 1.40–5.50), ejaculation difficulty (2.63, 1.61–4.28) and reduced libido (2.36, 1.61–3.47). Among the cohort of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, risk factors for long COVID included female sex, belonging to an ethnic minority, socioeconomic deprivation, smoking, obesity and a wide range of comorbidities. The risk of developing long COVID was also found to be increased along a gradient of decreasing age. SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with a plethora of symptoms that are associated with a range of sociodemographic and clinical risk factors. A retrospective analysis of primary care records in the United Kingdom reveals individual symptoms associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections, which persisted for 12 weeks or more after infection, as well as risk factors associated with developing long COVID.

Published in Nature Medicine (July 25, 2022):

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01909-w 

The study involving more than 2,300 people also found that women were 33% less likely to fully recover than men.  Not even 1 in 4 people have completely recovered from the coronavirus a full year after being hospitalized with the disease, a U.K. study indicated Sunday, warning that long COVID-19 could become a common condition. The study involving more than 2,300 people also found that women were 33% less likely to fully recover than men. It also found that obese people were half as likely to fully recover, while those who needed mechanical ventilation were 58% less likely. The study looked at the health of people who were discharged from 39 British hospitals with COVID-19 between March 2020 and April 2021, then assessed the recovery of 807 of them five months and one year later. Just 26% reported a full recovery after five months, and that number rose only slightly to 28.9% after a year, according to the study published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal.

“The limited recovery from five months to one year after hospitalization in our study across symptoms, mental health, exercise capacity, organ impairment and quality-of-life is striking,” said study co-leader Rachel Evans of the National Institute for Health and Care Research. The most common long-COVID-19 symptoms were fatigue, muscle pain, poor sleep, slowing down physically and breathlessness. “Without effective treatments, long-COVID could become a highly prevalent new long-term condition,” said study co-lead Christopher Brightling of the University of Leicester. The study, which will be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, is ongoing and will continue to monitor the patients’ health.

Published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine (April 23, 2022):

https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(22)00127-8 

The likelihood of self-reported long COVID after a first coronavirus (COVID-19) infection compatible with the Omicron BA.1 or BA.2 variants, compared with the Delta variant, using data from the COVID-19 Infection Survey.

• Of triple-vaccinated adults, 4.5%, 4.2% and 5.0% self-reported having long COVID 12 to 16 weeks after a first laboratory-confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection compatible with the Omicron BA.1, Omicron BA.2 or Delta variants, respectively, using data to 27 May 2022.

• There was no statistical evidence of differences in the odds of reporting long COVID between infections compatible with the Omicron BA.1, Omicron BA.2 and Delta variants among adults who were triple vaccinated when infected; this was after statistically adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics for all comparisons, and for time since last vaccine dose when comparing Omicron BA.1 and BA.2.

• Of double-vaccinated adults, 4.0% self-reported long COVID 12 to 16 weeks after a first infection compatible with the Omicron BA.1 variant, compared with 9.2% for those compatible with the Delta variant.

• The odds of reporting long COVID were 48.2% lower for first COVID-19 infections compatible with the Omicron BA.1 variant than those compatible with the Delta variant among adults who were double vaccinated when infected; this was after statistically adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics.

If you are worried about new or ongoing symptoms four or more weeks after having COVID-19, there are resources available to help. See Long-term effects of coronavirus (NHS) and Your COVID Recovery (NHS), which can help you to understand what has happened and what you might expect as part of your recovery. The time it takes to recover from COVID-19 is different for everyone, and the length of your recovery is not necessarily related to the severity of your initial illness or whether you were in hospital.