On the single and multiple associations of COVID-19 post-acute sequelae: 6-month prospective cohort study (1 March 2022)

Summary

Medical research is progressing to clarify the full range of sub-acute and long-term effects of post-COVID-19 syndrome (Long Covid), but most manuscripts published to date only analyse the effects in patients discharged from hospital, which may induce significant bias. This Spanish study in the journal Scientific Reports aimed to analyse the single and multiple associations between post-COVID-19 characteristics with up to six months of follow-up in hospitalised and non-hospitalised Covid-19 patients.

Key findings include:

• At six months follow-up, fatigue, arthralgia, fever, breathlessness, emotional disturbance, depression, cognitive deficit, haemoglobin, total bilirubin, and ferritin are correlated with the gender of the patient
• Patients with previous respiratory diseases and abnormal body mass index, ex-smoker, and dyspnoea had a robust statistically significant association.
• Non-hospitalised patients may suffer more severe thromboembolic events and fatigue than hospitalised patients.
• Functional lung tests are good predictors of chest CT imaging abnormalities in elderly patients with Long Covid.