Long COVID-19 present in around half of survivors

Among patients who successfully recover from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), nearly half continue to experience persistent symptoms a month after recovery, reports a recent Japan study.

Researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 127 COVID-19 survivors (median age 51 years, 52.8 percent men) who were asked to complete self-administered surveys to identify the presence of persistent infection sequelae.

After a median of 29 days from COVID-19 onset, 66 patients said that they were still experiencing at least one disease sequelae. The resulting prevalence rate of persistent symptoms was 52.0 percent.

This was more common among participants aged ≥60 and 40–59 years, of whom 66.7 percent and 58.2 percent, respectively, had persistent sequelae, as compared with only 35.6 percent of those aged <40 years (Cochran-Armitage trend test p=0.0064).

Multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed that persistent sequelae were significantly more likely to arise in participants aged 40–59 (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 2.46, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.05–5.37; p=0.0376) and ≥60 years (adjusted OR, 3.63, 95 percent CI, 1.27–10.42; p=0.0165) relative to counterparts in the <40-year-old age group.

Of note, COVID-19 severity did not seem to affect the likelihood of persistent symptoms, which were present in 49.5 percent of patients who reported having mild disease.

The most common long COVID-19 symptoms included olfactory (15.0 percent) and taste (14.2 percent) disorders, coughs (14.2 percent), fatigue (11.0 percent), and dyspnoea (10.2 percent).

“Our results warrant a large-scale, long-term cohort study in the future,” the researchers said.