The burden of post-acute COVID-19 symptoms in a multinational network cohort analysis

Kristin Kostka, Elena Roel, Nhung T. H. Trinh, Núria Mercadé-Besora, Antonella Delmestri, Lourdes Mateu, Roger Paredes, Talita Duarte-Salles, Daniel Prieto-Alhambra (), Martí Català and Annika M. Jödicke
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Kristin Kostka: University of Oxford
Elena Roel: I Fundació Institut Universitari per a la recerca a l’Atenció Primària de Salut Jordi Gol i Gurina (IDIAPJGol)
Nhung T. H. Trinh: University of Oslo
Núria Mercadé-Besora: I Fundació Institut Universitari per a la recerca a l’Atenció Primària de Salut Jordi Gol i Gurina (IDIAPJGol)
Antonella Delmestri: University of Oxford
Lourdes Mateu: Department of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol
Roger Paredes: Department of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol
Talita Duarte-Salles: I Fundació Institut Universitari per a la recerca a l’Atenció Primària de Salut Jordi Gol i Gurina (IDIAPJGol)
Daniel Prieto-Alhambra: University of Oxford
Martí Català: University of Oxford
Annika M. Jödicke: University of Oxford

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Persistent symptoms following the acute phase of COVID-19 present a major burden to both the affected and the wider community. We conducted a cohort study including over 856,840 first COVID-19 cases, 72,422 re-infections and more than 3.1 million first negative-test controls from primary care electronic health records from Spain and the UK (Sept 2020 to Jan 2022 (UK)/March 2022 (Spain)). We characterised post-acute COVID-19 symptoms and identified key symptoms associated with persistent disease. We estimated incidence rates of persisting symptoms in the general population and among COVID-19 patients over time. Subsequently, we investigated which WHO-listed symptoms were particularly differential by comparing their frequency in COVID-19 cases vs. matched test-negative controls. Lastly, we compared persistent symptoms after first infections vs. reinfections.Our study shows that the proportion of COVID-19 cases affected by persistent post-acute COVID-19 symptoms declined over the study period. Risk for altered smell/taste was consistently higher in patients with COVID-19 vs test-negative controls. Persistent symptoms were more common after reinfection than following a first infection. More research is needed into the definition of long COVID, and the effect of interventions to minimise the risk and impact of persistent symptoms.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42726-0

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