Long COVID in hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients in a large cohort in Northwest Spain, a prospective cohort study

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 3369
• Main Authors: Pérez-González, Alexandre, Araújo-Ameijeiras, Alejandro, Fernández-Villar, Alberto, Crespo, Manuel, Poveda, Eva
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.03.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 692/699/1785; 692/699/255; Adult; Aged; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Cohort analysis; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - therapy; Diagnosis; Dyspnea; Epidemiology; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Hospitalization; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Lung diseases; Male; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Multivariate analysis; Patients; Prospective Studies; Respiration; Risk Factors; SARS-CoV-2; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Sex Factors; Spain - epidemiology; Thorax; Spain
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-07414-x

Survivors to COVID-19 have described long-term symptoms after acute disease. These signs constitute a heterogeneous group named long COVID or persistent COVID . The aim of this study is to describe persisting symptoms 6 months after COVID-19 diagnosis in a prospective cohort in the Northwest Spain. This is a prospective cohort study performed in the COHVID-GS. This cohort includes patients in clinical follow-up in a health area of 569,534 inhabitants after SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 diagnosis. Clinical and epidemiological characteristics were collected during the follow up. A total of 248 patients completed 6 months follow-up, 176 (69.4%) required hospitalization and 29 (10.2%) of them needed critical care. At 6 months, 119 (48.0%) patients described one or more persisting symptoms. The most prevalent were: extra-thoracic symptoms (39.1%), chest symptoms (27%), dyspnoea (20.6%), and fatigue (16.1%). These symptoms were more common in hospitalized patients (52.3% vs. 38.2%) and in women (59.0% vs. 40.5%). The multivariate analysis identified COPD, women gender and tobacco consumption as risk factors for long COVID. Persisting symptoms are common after COVID-19 especially in hospitalized patients compared to outpatients (52.3% vs. 38.2%). Based on these findings, special attention and clinical follow-up after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection should be provided for hospitalized patients with previous lung diseases, tobacco consumption, and women.