Abstract
Introduction: Symptoms may persist after the initial phases of COVID-19 infection,
a phenomenon termed long COVID. Current knowledge on long COVID has been mostly
derived from test-confirmed and hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Data are required on the
burden and predictors of long COVID in a broader patient group, which includes both tested
and untested COVID-19 patients in primary care.
Methods: This is an observational study using data from Platform C19, a quality improvement
program-derived research database linking primary care electronic health record data (EHR)
with patient-reported questionnaire information. Participating general practices invited consenting patients aged 18–85 to complete an online questionnaire since 7th August 2020. COVID-19
self-diagnosis, clinician-diagnosis, testing, and the presence and duration of symptoms were
assessed via the questionnaire. Patients were considered present with long COVID if they
reported symptoms lasting ≥4 weeks. EHR and questionnaire data up till 22nd January 2021
were extracted for analysis. Multivariable regression analyses were conducted comparing
demographics, clinical characteristics, and presence of symptoms between patients with long
COVID and patients with shorter symptom duration.
Results: Long COVID was present in 310/3151 (9.8%) patients with self-diagnosed, cliniciandiagnosed, or test-confirmed COVID-19. Only 106/310 (34.2%) long COVID patients had testconfirmed COVID-19. Risk predictors of long COVID were age ≥40 years (adjusted Odds Ratio
[AdjOR]=1.49 [1.05–2.17]), female sex (adjOR=1.37 [1.02–1.85]), frailty (adjOR=2.39 [1.29–
4.27]), visit to A&E (adjOR=4.28 [2.31–7.78]), and hospital admission for COVID-19 symptoms (adjOR=3.22 [1.77–5.79]). Aches and pain (adjOR=1.70 [1.21–2.39]), appetite loss
(adjOR=3.15 [1.78–5.92]), confusion and disorientation (adjOR=2.17 [1.57–2.99]), diarrhea
(adjOR=1.4 [1.03–1.89]), and persistent dry cough (adjOR=2.77 [1.94–3.98]) were symptom
features statistically more common in long COVID.
Conclusion: This study reports the factors and symptom features predicting long COVID in
a broad primary care population, including both test-confirmed and the previously missed
group of COVID-19 patients
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 93-104 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Pragmatic and Observational Research |
Volume | 2021 |
Issue number | 12 |
Early online date | 11 Aug 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 11 Aug 2021 |
Keywords
- SARS-CoV-2
- questionnaire
- observational study
- frailty
- chronic disease