The article "Symptoms and risk factors for long COVID in non-hospitalized adults" has been published in Nature Medicine at 25 July 2022.
Written by Anuradhaa Subramanian, Krishnarajah Nirantharakumar, Sarah Hughes, Puja Myles, Tim Williams, Krishna M. Gokhale, Tom Taverner, Joht Singh Chandan, Kirsty Brown, Nikita Simms-Williams, Anoop D. Shah, Megha Singh, Farah Kidy, Kelvin Okoth, Richard Hotham, Nasir Bashir, Neil Cockburn, Siang Ing Lee, Grace M. Turner, Georgios V. Gkoutos, Olalekan Lee Aiyegbusi, Christel McMullan, Alastair K. Denniston, Elizabeth Sapey, Janet M. Lord, David C. Wraith, Edward Leggett, Clare Iles, Tom Marshall, Malcolm J. Price, Steven Marwaha, Elin Haf Davies, Louise J. Jackson, Karen L. Matthews, Jenny Camaradou, Melanie Calvert & Shamil Haroon, the article highlights a range of persistent symptoms impacting everyday functioning, known as post-COVID-19 condition or long COVID.
In the Abstract, the authors inform:
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.
* The World Health Organization (WHO) defines it as a condition characterized by symptoms impacting everyday life, such as fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive dysfunction, which occur after a history of probable or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Symptoms usually occur 3 months from the onset of acute COVID-19 symptoms, last for at least 2 months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis.
Reference:
Subramanian, A., Nirantharakumar, K., Hughes, S. et al. Symptoms and risk factors for long COVID in non-hospitalized adults. Nat Med (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01909-w
Comments