Characteristics and predictors of Long COVID among diagnosed cases of COVID-19
- PMID: 36538532
- PMCID: PMC9767341
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278825
Characteristics and predictors of Long COVID among diagnosed cases of COVID-19
Abstract
Background: Long COVID or long-term symptoms after COVID-19 has the ability to affect health and quality of life. Knowledge about the burden and predictors could aid in their prevention and management. Most of the studies are from high-income countries and focus on severe acute COVID-19 cases. We did this study to estimate the incidence and identify the characteristics and predictors of Long COVID among our patients.
Methodology: We recruited adult (≥18 years) patients who were diagnosed as Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RTPCR) confirmed SARS-COV-2 infection and were either hospitalized or tested on outpatient basis. Eligible participants were followed up telephonically after four weeks and six months of diagnosis of SARS-COV-2 infection to collect data on sociodemographic, clinical history, vaccination history, Cycle threshold (Ct) values during diagnosis and other variables. Characteristics of Long COVID were elicited, and multivariable logistic regression was done to find the predictors of Long COVID.
Results: We have analyzed 487 and 371 individual data with a median follow-up of 44 days (Inter quartile range (IQR): 39,47) and 223 days (IQR:195,251), respectively. Overall, Long COVID was reported by 29.2% (95% Confidence interval (CI): 25.3%,33.4%) and 9.4% (95% CI: 6.7%,12.9%) of participants at four weeks and six months of follow-up, respectively. Incidence of Long COVID among patients with mild/moderate disease (n = 415) was 23.4% (95% CI: 19.5%,27.7%) as compared to 62.5% (95% CI: 50.7%,73%) in severe/critical cases(n = 72) at four weeks of follow-up. At six months, the incidence among mild/moderate (n = 319) was 7.2% (95% CI:4.6%,10.6%) as compared to 23.1% (95% CI:12.5%,36.8%) in severe/critical (n = 52). The most common Long COVID symptom was fatigue. Statistically significant predictors of Long COVID at four weeks of follow-up were-Pre-existing medical conditions (Adjusted Odds ratio (aOR) = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.16,3.44), having a higher number of symptoms during acute phase of COVID-19 disease (aOR = 11.24, 95% CI: 4.00,31.51), two doses of COVID-19 vaccination (aOR = 2.32, 95% CI: 1.17,4.58), the severity of illness (aOR = 5.71, 95% CI: 3.00,10.89) and being admitted to hospital (Odds ratio (OR) = 3.89, 95% CI: 2.49,6.08).
Conclusion: A considerable proportion of COVID-19 cases reported Long COVID symptoms. More research is needed in Long COVID to objectively assess the symptoms and find the biological and radiological markers.
Copyright: © 2022 Arjun et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Figures
Similar articles
-
Long COVID following Omicron wave in Eastern India-A retrospective cohort study.J Med Virol. 2023 Jan;95(1):e28214. doi: 10.1002/jmv.28214. Epub 2022 Oct 25. J Med Virol. 2023. PMID: 36224705 Free PMC article.
-
Female gender is associated with long COVID syndrome: a prospective cohort study.Clin Microbiol Infect. 2022 Apr;28(4):611.e9-611.e16. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2021.11.002. Epub 2021 Nov 9. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2022. PMID: 34763058 Free PMC article.
-
Post-COVID-19 Conditions Among Children 90 Days After SARS-CoV-2 Infection.JAMA Netw Open. 2022 Jul 1;5(7):e2223253. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.23253. JAMA Netw Open. 2022. PMID: 35867061 Free PMC article.
-
Prevalence of post-acute COVID-19 syndrome symptoms at different follow-up periods: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clin Microbiol Infect. 2022 May;28(5):657-666. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2022.01.014. Epub 2022 Feb 3. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2022. PMID: 35124265 Free PMC article. Review.
-
One-Year Temporal Changes in Long COVID Prevalence and Characteristics: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Value Health. 2023 Jun;26(6):934-942. doi: 10.1016/j.jval.2022.11.011. Epub 2022 Nov 25. Value Health. 2023. PMID: 36436792 Review.
Cited by
-
Characterizing health-related quality of life and identifying disease predictors among patients suspected of having long COVID: an analysis of COMET-ICE clinical trial data.Front Public Health. 2024 May 9;12:1278106. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1278106. eCollection 2024. Front Public Health. 2024. PMID: 38784592 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.
-
Follow-up study of COVID-19 sequelae (FOSCO study).Lung India. 2024 Mar 1;41(2):103-109. doi: 10.4103/lungindia.lungindia_400_23. Epub 2024 Feb 27. Lung India. 2024. PMID: 38700403 Free PMC article.
-
Prevalence and predictors of post-acute COVID syndrome among infected healthcare workers at University Malaya Medical Centre.PLoS One. 2024 Apr 16;19(4):e0298376. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0298376. eCollection 2024. PLoS One. 2024. PMID: 38626017 Free PMC article.
-
Long COVID across SARS-CoV-2 variants, lineages, and sublineages.iScience. 2024 Mar 19;27(4):109536. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109536. eCollection 2024 Apr 19. iScience. 2024. PMID: 38585665 Free PMC article.
-
Self-managing symptoms of Long COVID: an education and strategies research protocol.Front Public Health. 2024 Feb 7;12:1106578. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1106578. eCollection 2024. Front Public Health. 2024. PMID: 38384879 Free PMC article.
References
-
- WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19–30 March 2020 [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2021 Dec 13]. Available from: https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-genera....
-
- WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard | WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard with Vaccination Data [Internet]. 2021. [cited 2021 Dec 13]. Available from: https://covid19.who.int/.
-
- World health organization. The latest on the covid-19 global situation & long-term sequelae [Internet]. 2021. [cited 2021 Dec 13]. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/update-54-clinical-long-term-eff....
MeSH terms
Substances
Associated data
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical
Miscellaneous