Symptoms and risk factors for long COVID in non-hospitalized adults.
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is associated with a range of persistent symptoms impacting everyday functioning, known as post-COVID-19 condition or long COVID. We undertook a retrospective matched cohort study using a UK-based primary care database, Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum, to determine symptoms that are associated with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection beyond 12 weeks in non-hospitalized adults and the risk factors associated with developing persistent symptoms. We selected 486,149 adults with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and 1,944,580 propensity score-matched adults with no recorded evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Outcomes included 115 individual symptoms, as well as long COVID, defined as a composite outcome of 33 symptoms by the World Health Organization clinical case definition. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for the outcomes. A total of 62 symptoms were significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection after 12 weeks. The largest aHRs were for anosmia (aHR 6.49, 95% CI 5.02-8.39), hair loss (3.99, 3.63-4.39), sneezing (2.77, 1.40-5.50), ejaculation difficulty (2.63, 1.61-4.28) and reduced libido (2.36, 1.61-3.47). Among the cohort of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, risk factors for long COVID included female sex, belonging to an ethnic minority, socioeconomic deprivation, smoking, obesity and a wide range of comorbidities. The risk of developing long COVID was also found to be increased along a gradient of decreasing age. SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with a plethora of symptoms that are associated with a range of sociodemographic and clinical risk factors.
Author
Subramanian, Anuradhaa
Nirantharakumar, Krishnarajah
Hughes, Sarah
Myles, Puja
Williams, Tim
Gokhale, Krishna M
Taverner, Tom
Chandan, Joht Singh
Brown, Kirsty
Simms-Williams, Nikita
Shah, Anoop D
Singh, Megha
Kidy, Farah
Okoth, Kelvin
Hotham, Richard
Bashir, Nasir
Cockburn, Neil
Lee, Siang Ing
Turner, Grace M
Gkoutos, Georgios V
Aiyegbusi, Olalekan Lee
McMullan, Christel
Denniston, Alastair K
Sapey, Elizabeth
Lord, Janet M
Wraith, David C
Leggett, Edward
Iles, Clare
Marshall, Tom
Price, Malcolm J
Marwaha, Steven
Davies, Elin Haf
Jackson, Louise J
Matthews, Karen L
Camaradou, Jenny
Calvert, Melanie
Haroon, Shamil
Nirantharakumar, Krishnarajah
Hughes, Sarah
Myles, Puja
Williams, Tim
Gokhale, Krishna M
Taverner, Tom
Chandan, Joht Singh
Brown, Kirsty
Simms-Williams, Nikita
Shah, Anoop D
Singh, Megha
Kidy, Farah
Okoth, Kelvin
Hotham, Richard
Bashir, Nasir
Cockburn, Neil
Lee, Siang Ing
Turner, Grace M
Gkoutos, Georgios V
Aiyegbusi, Olalekan Lee
McMullan, Christel
Denniston, Alastair K
Sapey, Elizabeth
Lord, Janet M
Wraith, David C
Leggett, Edward
Iles, Clare
Marshall, Tom
Price, Malcolm J
Marwaha, Steven
Davies, Elin Haf
Jackson, Louise J
Matthews, Karen L
Camaradou, Jenny
Calvert, Melanie
Haroon, Shamil
Citations
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Date
2022-07-25
Type
Article
Subject
Health services. Management, Haematology, Transplantation, Sports medicine, Microbiology. Immunology
Collections
Citation
Subramanian A, Nirantharakumar K, Hughes S, Myles P, Williams T, Gokhale KM, Taverner T, Chandan JS, Brown K, Simms-Williams N, Shah AD, Singh M, Kidy F, Okoth K, Hotham R, Bashir N, Cockburn N, Lee SI, Turner GM, Gkoutos GV, Aiyegbusi OL, McMullan C, Denniston AK, Sapey E, Lord JM, Wraith DC, Leggett E, Iles C, Marshall T, Price MJ, Marwaha S, Davies EH, Jackson LJ, Matthews KL, Camaradou J, Calvert M, Haroon S. Symptoms and risk factors for long COVID in non-hospitalized adults. Nat Med. 2022 Aug;28(8):1706-1714. doi: 10.1038/s41591-022-01909-w. Epub 2022 Jul 25
Journal / Source Title
Nature Medicine
DOI
10.1038/s41591-022-01909-w
PMID
35879616
Publisher
Nature Research
Publisher’s URL
http://www.nature.com/nm/index.html