Long COVID in a prospective cohort of home-isolated patients

Abstract

Long-term complications after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are common in hospitalized patients, but the spectrum of symptoms in milder cases needs further investigation. We conducted a long-term follow-up in a prospective cohort study of 312 patients—247 home-isolated and 65 hospitalized—comprising 82% of total cases in Bergen during the first pandemic wave in Norway. At 6 months, 61% (189/312) of all patients had persistent symptoms, which were independently associated with severity of initial illness, increased convalescent antibody titers and pre-existing chronic lung disease. We found that 52% (32/61) of home-isolated young adults, aged 16–30 years, had symptoms at 6 months, including loss of taste and/or smell (28%, 17/61), fatigue (21%, 13/61), dyspnea (13%, 8/61), impaired concentration (13%, 8/61) and memory problems (11%, 7/61). Our findings that young, home-isolated adults with mild COVID-19 are at risk of long-lasting dyspnea and cognitive symptoms highlight the importance of infection control measures, such as vaccination.

Long COVID in Hospitalized and Non-Hospitalized Patients in a Large Cohort in Northwest Spain, A Prospective Cohort Study

“…However, even in the absence of pneumonia, 15% of non-hospitalized patients reported persisting chest symptoms. Recently, Blomberg et al, described long COVID symptoms in Norwegian non-hospitalized and hospitalized population with a slightly higher prevalence than in our study (52.0% vs. 38.2% respectively) [10].…”

“…A prior study performed by Chaoling-Huang et al, also described a higher frequency of long COVID symptoms in females than males [8]. To the best of our knowledge, there are only few studies evaluating long COVID symptoms between males and females, both in hospitalized and non-hospitalized setting [10].…”

1-year outcomes in hospital survivors with COVID-19: a longitudinal cohort study

“…As of early August, 2021, more than 200 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed globally, and more than 4•3 million people have died following SARS-CoV-2 infection. 1 The sequelae after recovery from acute COVID-19 have been widely reported [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and have become an increasing concern. In our previous cohort study with a median follow-up time of 6 months after symptom onset, approximately three-quarters of COVID-19 survivors discharged from hospital still had persisting symptoms, and patients who were critically ill during hospital stay had higher risk of lung diffusion impairment and radiographic abnormality than did those who had lower disease severity.…”

Post-Intensive Care Syndrome and Its New Challenges in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Review of Recent Advances and Perspectives

“…The symptoms of long COVID are fatigue or muscle weakness (63%), sleep difficulties (26%), anxiety, or depression (23%) [59]. Even in home-isolated young adults who were not admitted to the ICU, 52% of patients had prolonged symptoms, such as fatigue, dyspnea, and memory problems at 6 months after infection [60]. Regarding lung injury, 24% of patients were found to have abnormally high computed tomography findings and a significantly impaired carbon dioxide diffusing capacity in the lungs at 12 months after discharge [61].…”