Long COVID burden and risk factors in 10 UK longitudinal studies and electronic health records

Journal article

The frequency of, and risk factors for, long COVID are unclear among community-based individuals with a history of COVID-19. To elucidate the burden and possible causes of long COVID in the community, we coordinated analyses of survey data from 6907 individuals with self-reported COVID-19 from 10 UK longitudinal study (LS) samples and 1.1 million individuals with COVID-19 diagnostic codes in electronic healthcare records (EHR) collected by spring 2021. Proportions of presumed COVID-19 cases in LS reporting any symptoms for 12+ weeks ranged from 7.8% and 17% (with 1.2 to 4.8% reporting debilitating symptoms). Increasing age, female sex, white ethnicity, poor pre-pandemic general and mental health, overweight/obesity, and asthma were associated with prolonged symptoms in both LS and EHR data, but findings for other factors, such as cardio-metabolic parameters, were inconclusive.

Authors: Thompson, EJ; Williams, DM; Walker, AJ; Mitchell, RE; Niedzwiedz, CL

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 3528-3528
• Article number: 3528
• Publication date: 2022-06-28
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30836-0
• EISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• Language: English
• Keywords: Pathology; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); Medicine; Overweight; Outbreak; Gerontology; Health care; Longitudinal study; Ethnic group; Disease; Environmental health; 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak; Pandemic; Health records; Demography; Asthma; Internal medicine; Obesity; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Infectious disease (medical specialty)