Long-COVID is characterized by symptoms of fatigue, headache, dyspnoea and anosmia. At the population level, it is critical to quantify the burden of Long-COVID to better assess its impact on the healthcare system and appropriately distribute resources.
A new study led by researchers from King’s College London suggests Long-COVID affects around 10% of 18-to 49-year-olds following infection with SARS-CoV-2. The study found the syndrome was more likely with increasing age, body mass index (BMI) and female sex.
The scientists analyzed data from 4182 incident cases of self-logged symptoms in the COVID Symptom Study app.
The researchers also found that experiencing more than five symptoms during the first week of illness was associated with Long-COVID.
The method underscored in the study could help determine at-risk groups and could be used to target early intervention trials of treatment and and clinical service developments to support rehabilitation to alleviate Long-COVID.
This paper is a medRxiv pre-print still undergoing peer-review
Attributes and predictors of Long-COVID: analysis of COVID cases and their symptoms collected by the Covid Symptoms Study App. October 21, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.19.20214494
