February 2022 - General
Attributes and predictors of long COVID
Sudre CH, Murray B, Varsavsky T, Graham MS, Penfold RS, Bowyer RC, Pujol JC, Klaser K, Antonelli M, Canas LS, Molteni E, Modat M, Jorge Cardoso M, May A, Ganesh S, Davies R, Nguyen LH, Drew DA, Astley CM, Joshi AD, Merino J, Tsereteli N, Fall T, Gomez MF, Duncan EL, Menni C, Williams FMK, Franks PW, Chan AT, Wolf J, Ourselin S, Spector T, Steves CJ. Nat Med. 2021 Apr;27(4):626-631. doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01292-y. Epub 2021 Mar 10. Erratum in: Nat Med. 2021 Jun;27(6):1116. PMID: 33692530; PMCID: PMC7611399.
In this study analyzing data from 4,182 incident cases of COVID-19 via the COVID Symptom Study app in the UK, 558 participants reported symptoms lasting 28 days or more, 4.5% 8 weeks or more and 2.3% 12 weeks or more. Symptoms of fatigue, headache, dyspnea and anosmia characterizing post-COVID were more likely with increasing age, body mass index, female sex as well as experiencing more than five symptoms during the first week of illness.
Link to study: Attributes and predictors of long COVID
Follow-up of adults with noncritical COVID-19 two months after symptom onset
Carvalho-Schneider C, Laurent E, Lemaignen A, Beaufils E, Bourbao-Tournois C, Laribi S, Flament T, Ferreira-Maldent N, Bruyère F, Stefic K, Gaudy-Graffin C, Grammatico-Guillon L, Bernard L. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2021 Feb;27(2):258-263. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2020.09.052. Epub 2020 Oct 5. PMID: 33031948; PMCID: PMC7534895.
Overall, 150 patients with noncritical COVID-19 at Tours University Hospital in France were followed at 30 and 60 days from the infection. Overall, 66% of patients had symptoms at 60 days including anosmia/agueusia (59%), fatigue (40%) and dyspnea (36.7%). Persistent symptoms at 60 days were significantly associated with age 40 to 60 years old, hospital admission and abnormal auscultation at symptom onset.
Link to study: Follow-up of adults with noncritical COVID-19 two months after symptom onset
Risk factors and disease profile of post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection in UK users of the COVID Symptom Study app: a prospective, community-based, nested, case-control study
Antonelli M, Penfold RS, Merino J, Sudre CH, Molteni E, Berry S, Canas LS, Graham MS, Klaser K, Modat M, Murray B, Kerfoot E, Chen L, Deng J, Österdahl MF, Cheetham NJ, Drew DA, Nguyen LH, Pujol JC, Hu C, Selvachandran S, Polidori L, May A, Wolf J, Chan AT, Hammers A, Duncan EL, Spector TD, Ourselin S, Steves CJ. Lancet Infect Dis. 2022 Jan;22(1):43-55. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00460-6. Epub 2021 Sep 1. PMID: 34480857; PMCID: PMC8409907.
This study is a prospective, community-based, nested, case-control study used self-reported data from 1 240 009 users of the COVID Symptom Study mobile phone app between December 2020 and July 2021 in the UK. All 1 240 009 COVID Symptom Study app users had a first vaccine dose, of whom 6030 subsequently tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and 971 504 reported a second dose, of whom 2370 (0·2%) subsequently tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Among control groups were unvaccinated participants reporting a positive SARS-CoV-2 test who had used the app for at least 14 consecutive days after the test, and were matched (1:1) with participants having received one or two doses of vaccination, respectively, by the date of the positive test, health-care worker status, sex, body-mass index (BMI), and age. Vaccination (compared with no vaccination) was associated with reduced odds of hospitalization or having more than five symptoms in the first week of illness following the first or second dose, and long-duration (≥28 days) symptoms following the second dose. Almost all symptoms were reported less frequently in infected vaccinated individuals than in infected unvaccinated individuals, and vaccinated participants were more likely to be completely asymptomatic, especially if they were 60 years or older.
