Prolonged COVID, explained as one or more clusters of symptoms lasting three months or longer, occurred in about 6% of other people with symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, a modeling study on 1. 2 million COVID patients worldwide showed.
After adjusting for pre-COVID fitness, approximately 6. 2% (95% uncertainty period [IU] 2. 4-13. 3) of other people with symptomatic infection experienced at least one of 3 long groups of COVID symptoms in 2020 and 2021, according to Theo Vos, PhD, of the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues in JAMA’s long-term Global Burden of Disease Contributors group.
This included:
Among other people older than 20 years and older, prolonged groups of COVID symptoms were less unusual in women (10. 6%, 95% UI 4. 3-22. 2) than in men (5. 4%, 95% UI 2. 2-11. 7). 20 years of age, prolonged COVID affected 2. 8% (95% IU 0. 9-7. 0) of symptomatic COVID patients of both sexes.
The estimated duration of symptoms nine months (95% IU 7. 0-12. 0 months) for hospitalized patients with COVID and four months (95% IU 3. 6-4. 6 months) for those who were not hospitalized. After one year, 15. 1% of everyone who had a long COVID still had symptoms.
The overall research focused on Bayesian meta-regression and pooling 54 studies and two medical records databases, incorporating data from 1. 2 million other people with symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in 22 countries.
“We synthesized the available wisdom about the occurrence, severity, and duration of three groups of common prolonged COVID symptoms,” Vos told MedPage Today.
“Most importantly, we anchored our estimates on the difference between those who experienced SARS-CoV-2 infection and those who did not, or by comparing other people who assessed symptoms before and after having COVID-19,” Vos explained.
“As all of these symptoms are common, misclassification would lead to exaggeration,” he added. type correct their onset in those who have not been infected. “
“We haven’t covered the full spectrum of prolonged COVID symptoms,” Vos acknowledged. And the severity of symptoms in some patients is significant: “on the order of what we measure for others with deafness or long-term consequences of more severe head trauma. “”He noticed.
“An investigation of the largest contributory cohort with the most detailed data indicated that, among those who reported not having recovered and were deteriorating in terms of overall health, we largely lost other people who reported similar symptoms at a lower point of severity. “” he said. ” That means we’re underestimating. “
Of the 54 studies included in the review, 44 and 10 were collaborative cohort studies in Austria, Faroe Islands, Germany, Iran, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA. U. S. The studies included 10,501 hospitalised and 42,891 outpatients with COVID patients. Cohort studies included 10,526 inpatients and 1,906 outpatients.
In addition, knowledge from two U. S. electronic medical record knowledge bases was used. The U. S. Department of Health and Drug Administration covered 250,928 inpatients and 846,046 outpatients. Data collection took place from March 2020 to January 2022 and covered the wave of Omicron variants.
The analyses were based on the World Health Organization’s definition of a long-term COVID clinical case. Symptoms were new and persisted for 3 months after symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The estimated proportion of other people with at least one of the 3 long-term COVID symptom teams among patients admitted to the ICU (43. 1%, 95% UI 22. 6-65. 2) or general hospital wards (27. 5%, 95% UI 12. 1-47. 8) than among outpatients (5. 7%, 95% UI 1. 9-13. 1).
In more than a third (38. 4%) of all long-term COVID cases, two or all 3 symptom teams overlapped.
Vos and her colleagues noted that the research had several limitations. “95% of user interfaces around the estimates are broad and reflect limited and heterogeneous data,” they wrote.
Algorithms had to be formulated to examine them in order to achieve some consistency in the definition of groups. The researchers also assumed that prolonged COVID followed a similar course across geographic areas.
“While we estimate that most cases occur within a year, this still leaves many other people with persistent symptoms,” Vos noted. “There is still no data to determine the evolution of their symptoms beyond 1 year. “
Judy George covers neurology and neuroscience for MedPage Today and writes about aging brains, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, multiple sclerosis, rare diseases, epilepsy, autism, headaches, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, concussions, CTE, sleep, pain and more. Follow
Funding for this task came from the ZonMW COVID-19 program, Laurens in the Netherlands, Rijndam Rehabilitation, Bill Foundation
Vos did not report any conflicts of interest. Co-authors reported relationships with nonprofits and pharmaceutical companies.