ImportanceSARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with persistent, relapsing, or new symptoms or other health effects occurring after acute infection, termed postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), also known as long COVID. Characterizing PASC requires analysis of prospectively and uniformly collected data from diverse uninfected and infected individuals.ObjectiveTo develop a definition of PASC using self-reported symptoms and describe PASC frequencies across cohorts, vaccination status, and number of infections.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsProspective observational cohort study of adults with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection at 85 enrolling sites (hospitals, health centers, community organizations) located in 33 states plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. Participants who were enrolled in the RECOVER adult cohort before April 10, 2023, completed a symptom survey 6 months or more after acute symptom onset or test date. Selection included population-based, volunteer, and convenience sampling.ExposureSARS-CoV-2 infection.Main Outcomes and MeasuresPASC and 44 participant-reported symptoms (with severity thresholds).ResultsA total of 9764 participants (89% SARS-CoV-2 infected; 71% female; 16% Hispanic/Latino; 15% non-Hispanic Black; median age, 47 years [IQR, 35-60]) met selection criteria. Adjusted odds ratios were 1.5 or greater (infected vs uninfected participants) for 37 symptoms. Symptoms contributing to PASC score included postexertional malaise, fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, gastrointestinal symptoms, palpitations, changes in sexual desire or capacity, loss of or change in smell or taste, thirst, chronic cough, chest pain, and abnormal movements. Among 2231 participants first infected on or after December 1, 2021, and enrolled within 30 days of infection, 224 (10% [95% CI, 8.8%-11%]) were PASC positive at 6 months.Conclusions and RelevanceA definition of PASC was developed based on symptoms in a prospective cohort study. As a first step to providing a framework for other investigations, iterative refinement that further incorporates other clinical features is needed to support actionable definitions of PASC.

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MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:PICU care occurred in 13.8% of all pediatric hospital encounters and increased over the study period from 13.3% to 14.3%. Resource intensity, based on average Hospitalization Resource Intensity Scores for Kids score, increased significantly across epochs (6.5 in 2014-2015 vs 6.9 in 2018-2019; p < 0.001), although this was not consistently manifested as additional procedural exposure. Geometric mean PICU cost per patient encounter was stable. The two most common disease categories in PICU patients were respiratory failure and cardiac and circulatory congenital anomalies. Of all PICU encounters, 35.5% involved mechanical ventilation, and 25.9% involved vasoactive infusions. Hospital-level variation in the percentage of days spent in the PICU ranged from 15.1% to 63.5% across the participating sites. Of the total hospital costs for patients admitted to the PICU, 41.7% of costs were accrued during the patients' PICU stay. CONCLUSIONS:The proportional use of PICU beds is increasing over time, although was variable across centers. Case-based resource use and complexity of pediatric patients are also increasing. Despite the higher use of PICU resources, the standardized costs of PICU care per patient encounter have remained stable. These data may help to inform current PICU resource allocation and future PICU capacity planning.

Objective: To determine the costs and hospital resource use from all PICU patients readmitted with a PICU stay within 12 months of hospital index discharge. Design: Cross-sectional, retrospective cohort study using Pediatric Health Information System. Setting: Fifty-two tertiary children’s hospitals. Subjects: Pediatric patients under 18 years old admitted to the PICU from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2017. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Patient characteristics and costs of care were compared between those with readmission requiring PICU care and those with only a single PICU admission per annum. In this 2-year cohort, there were 239,157 index PICU patients of which 36,970 (15.5%) were readmitted and required PICU care during the 12 months following index admission. The total hospital cost for all index admissions and readmissions was $17.3 billion, of which 21.5% ($3.71 billion) were incurred during a readmission stay involving care in the PICU; of the 3,459,079 hospital days, 20.3% (702,200) were readmission days including those where PICU care was required. Of the readmitted patients, 11,703 (30.0%) received only PICU care, accounting for $662 million in costs and 110,215 PICU days. Although 43.6% of all costs were associated with patients who required readmission, these patients only accounted for 15.5% of the index patients and 28% of index hospitalization expenditures. More patients in the readmitted group had chronic complex conditions at index discharge compared with those not readmitted (83.9% vs 54.9%; p < 0.001). Compared with those discharged directly to home without home healthcare, patients discharged to a skilled nursing facility had 18% lower odds of readmission (odds ratio 0.82 [95% CI, 0.75–0.89]; p < 0.001) and those discharged home with home healthcare had 43% higher odds of readmission (odds ratio, 1.43 [95% CI, 1.36–1.51]; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Repeated admissions with PICU care resulted in significant direct medical costs and resource use for U.S. children’s hospitals.