Successful vaccine rollout has dramatically reduced referrals to long-term COVID clinics

Referrals to Cambridge’s long-running COVID clinics have dropped dramatically over the period August 2021 to June 2022. This is likely due to the successful deployment of the vaccine, researchers say.

An estimated 2 million people in the UK had self-reported long-term COVID-19 in July this year, according to the Office for National Statistics. That is, symptoms persisted for more than 4 weeks after initial suspected coronavirus (COVID-19) infection. , reported symptoms such as shortness of breath, and a significant number of patients have not fully recovered two years after initial infection.

Two recent studies suggested that vaccination significantly reduced long-term COVID symptoms one to three months after infection, while another study using a cohort of U.S. Army veterans found A more modest reduction of 15% at 6 months was suggested.

In May 2020, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, part of the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH), set up a lengthy COVID clinic and patients were referred to the clinic based on a number of criteria. These patients tend to be on the severe end of the symptom spectrum, referred following evaluation by a team that includes general practitioners, mental health professionals, physical and occupational therapists, and other specialists.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and CUH’s Cambridge Institute for Immunotherapy and Infectious Diseases (CITIID) analyzed data from the clinic and found that the number of patients referred to the clinic from August 2021 to June 2022 increased by 79%. found to have decreased. From August 2020 he began to decline five months after starting his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine compared to July 2021.

The 6 month moving average went down from about 10 referrals per month to just 1-2 referrals per month. This impact has lasted for him at least until June 2022, despite four times as many acute COVID-19 cases per month in the UK over the same period.

The long duration of COVID can have a significant impact on an individual’s life, further straining our healthcare services as many patients are still experiencing symptoms months after infection. It’s taking

We know that vaccine deployment has had a significant impact on the number and severity of COVID infections, and evidence from our clinic is also critical in reducing the incidence of the most severe long-term COVID cases. It suggests that they played a role.”

Dr. Ben Krishna, University of Cambridge

The researchers say it’s possible, but unlikely, that the emergence of the Delta variant also influenced the long-term incidence of COVID. However, the long-term COVID incidence decline observed in August 2021 was due to patients experiencing symptoms for five months, suggesting changes starting in March 2021, they said. increase. It didn’t start until April 2021.

The team also says they cannot rule out previous infections that provide long-term COVID-protective immunity from reinfection. However, from March 2021 to April 2021, primary infections were more common than reinfections.

The team assessed long COVID-19 pre- and post-vaccination scores for any of the key symptoms such as fatigue (73% pre-vaccination vs 76% post-vaccination) or shortness of breath (18% pre-vaccination vs 23% post-vaccination). There was no change in symptoms among those referred for % after vaccination).

Researchers say the level of immunity needed to protect against COVID for the long term is not yet clear. As immunity declines over time, booster shots, including variant-specific booster shots, may be required to minimize long-term risk of COVID-19.

CUH’s Dr. Nyaradzai Sithole said: It should at least reduce their initial COVID infection, but should reduce the risk of long COVID. Hmm.

This study is published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

This research was funded by Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), with support from the NIHR Cambridge Center for Biomedical Research.