Large European study finds very high rates of long-term COVID

In a recent study published by European Center for Disease Prevention and Controllresearchers assessed the prevalence of symptoms after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

To facilitate the documentation of clinical side effects following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code in September 2020. Developed. Delphi has taken the approach of creating a unified clinical case definition using the term ‘post-COVID-19 condition’ for different symptom clusters included in different definitions of ‘long-term COVID’. increase. Managing the post-COVID-19 condition will continue to be challenging for healthcare providers, and the pandemic could threaten an already overburdened healthcare system.

Systematic review: Prevalence of post-COVID-19 condition symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort study data stratified by recruitment status.Image Credit: Donkeyworx/Shutterstock

About research

In the current study, researchers will identify post-COVID-19 symptoms, quantify their prevalence, and determine whether the severity of COVID-19 disease influences the prevalence of symptoms in patient cohorts. confirmed.

Priority reporting items of the Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) protocols were used to conduct the current systematic review. This meta-main analysis estimated the prevalence of post-COVID-19 condition symptoms as a proxy for disease severity, classified according to recruitment settings to communities, hospitals, and intensive care units (ICUs).

Only retrospective and prospective cohort studies conducted in Europe, UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand were considered eligible if they met the following conditions: Diagnosis in either a community, hospital, or ICU setting, and (b) post-COVID-19 status, occurs a minimum of 12 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection, studies have described.

Peer-reviewed papers published between January 2020 and February 2022 were identified within Medline (OVID) and EMBASE. An exhaustive search strategy was developed using terms related to post-COVID-19 conditions and cohort study design. Reference lists of all included studies and reviews were also checked to find more suitable studies.

The degree of certainty of the evidence obtained for each relevant outcome was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE). According to GRADE’s recommendations, all study results should be given an initial score of high certainty before being assessed for deficiencies such as inconsistency, evidence of publication bias, indirectness or inaccuracy of results. were given or assessed for methodologically robust studies with significant observed effects.

result

An exhaustive electronic search of EMBASE and Medline yielded 7,125 peer-reviewed studies. After full-text evaluation, 272 studies were determined to meet the inclusion criteria and were subsequently further evaluated for eligibility. Each study had a sample size of 13–57,748 SARS-CoV-2-infected patients, and the 61 cohort studies included an assessment of his post-COVID-19 status at least 12 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection. His 74,213 cases were included. In addition, 58 papers used reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to diagnose COVID-19, 3 studies employed clinical diagnosis or serological/antibody assays, and 9 studies used clinical and serological methods in addition to RT-PCR.

The prevalence of post-COVID-19 condition-related symptoms was 50.6% in the community-recruited cohort, 66.5% in the hospital-recruited cohort, and 73.8% in the ICU-recruited cohort. The most widely recorded symptoms from patients enrolled in the community setting, taking into account only the prevalence estimates with high or moderate certainty, were general weakness, shortness of breath, fatigue, depression, Headaches, concentration problems, dizziness, and body aches.

The most common symptoms reported by hospital-enrolled patients, taking into account only the prevalence estimates with high or moderate certainty, were cough, constipation, dizziness, depression, diarrhea, and fatigue. , hair loss, headache, joint pain, nausea, palpitations, rash, shortness of breath, upset stomach, vomiting. High- or moderate-certainty evidence is associated with prevalence estimates corresponding to five symptoms of his post-COVID-19 condition: depression, fatigue, dizziness, shortness of breath, and headache in community and hospital settings. is backed by Each of these symptoms was found to be more common in hospitalized patients than in community patients.

Conclusion

The findings identified a wide range of physical and psychological symptoms experienced by SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals at least 12 weeks after being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Overall, among community-recruited cohorts, post-COVID-19 condition symptoms were estimated to be more common in hospital and ICU settings compared to community-recruited individuals .