METHODS: A population-based longitudinal cohort study was conducted using data from 1,554,040 individuals with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection via Clinical Practice Research Datalink. Descriptive statistics explored the prevalence of long COVID symptoms 12 weeks post-infection, and Cox regression models analysed the associated risk factors. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to test the impact of right-censoring data.
RESULTS: During an average 400-day follow-up, 7.4% of individuals with COVID had at least one long-COVID symptom after acute phase, yet only 0.5% had long-COVID diagnostic codes. The most common long-COVID symptoms included cough (17.7%), back pain (15.2%), stomach-ache (11.2%), headache (11.1%), and sore throat (10.0%). The same trend was observed in all three subgroups. Risk factors associated with long-COVID symptoms were female sex, non-white ethnicity, obesity, and pre-existing medical conditions like anxiety, depression, type II diabetes, and somatic symptom disorders.
CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of clinically confirmed long-COVID in the general population. The findings could help clinicians identify higher risk individuals for timely intervention and allow decision-makers to more efficiently allocate resources for managing long-COVID.
方法:一项基于人群的纵向队列研究,通过临床实践研究数据链路,使用1,554,040名确诊SARS-CoV-2感染的个体的数据进行。描述性统计探讨了感染后12周长期COVID症状的患病率,Cox回归模型分析了相关的危险因素。进行了敏感性分析,以检验权利审查数据的影响。
结果:在平均400天的随访中,7.4%的COVID患者在急性期后出现至少一种长COVID症状,然而,只有0.5%的人有长COVID诊断代码。最常见的长期COVID症状包括咳嗽(17.7%),背痛(15.2%),胃痛(11.2%),头痛(11.1%),喉咙痛(10.0%)。在所有三个亚组中观察到相同的趋势。与长期COVID症状相关的危险因素是女性,非白人种族,肥胖,以及焦虑等预先存在的疾病,抑郁症,II型糖尿病,和躯体症状障碍。
结论:本研究首次调查了临床确诊的长COVID在普通人群中的患病率和危险因素。这些发现可以帮助临床医生识别风险较高的个体,以便及时干预,并允许决策者更有效地分配资源来管理长期COVID。