A new study that set out to investigate if the risk of long COVID differed depending on sex has concluded that females are more likely to develop the condition. Understanding how illnesses affect sexes differently can be a crucial step in identifying the biological mechanisms that are making people unwell, and in turn, can highlight new avenues of ...

Background Long COVID, a diverse set of symptoms that persist after a minimum of 4 weeks from the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection, has posed substantial burden to healthcare systems. There is some evidence that COVID-19 vaccination may be associated with lower risk of long COVID. However, little is known about the association between vaccination status and long COVID-associated healthcare resource utilisation (HCRU) and costs. Methods We conducted a cohort study using primary care electronic health record data in England from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) Aurum dataset linked to Hospital Episode Statistics where available. Adult (≥ 18 years) patients were indexed on a COVID-19 diagnosis between 1st March 2021 and 1st December 2021. Vaccination status was assessed at index: unvaccinated or completed primary series (two doses for immunocompetent and three doses for immunocompromised patients). Covariate balance was conducted using entropy balancing. Weighted multivariable Poisson regression was used to estimate the incidence rate ratio (IRR) for incident long COVID, and separately long COVID primary care resource use, by vaccination status. Patients were followed up to a maximum of 9-months post index. Results A total of 35,713 patients who had completed primary series vaccination, and 75,522 unvaccinated patients were included. The weighted and adjusted IRR for long COVID among patients vaccinated with the primary series compared to being unvaccinated was 0.81 (95% CI: 0.77–0.86) in the overall cohort, 0.83 (95% CI: 0.78–0.88) in the immunocompetent cohort and 0.28 (95% CI: 0.13–0.58) in the immunocompromised cohort. Among those with long COVID, there was no association between the rate of primary care consultations and vaccination status in the overall and immunocompetent cohorts. Cost of primary care consultations was greater in the unvaccinated group than for those who completed primary series. Conclusion Vaccination against COVID-19 may reduce the risk of long COVID in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients. However, no association was found between frequency of primary care visits and vaccination among patients diagnosed in 2021. Future studies with larger sample size, higher vaccine uptake, and longer study periods during the pandemic are needed to further quantify the impact of vaccination on long COVID.

Debate remains over long Covid and global response to future disease outbreak

What does the data say?

A new CDC study published Monday found that more than 1 million children were affected by long COVID in 2023. Higher levels were found in lower-income households.

Researchers found that COVID-19 had a higher long-term mortality than influenza and RSV in veterans—underscoring vaccination’s vital role.

Although long-term nursing home stay or death decreased before the COVID-19 pandemic, the trend slowed during the pandemic across all racial and ethnic groups.

The US government is literally erasing the existence of Long COVID. — Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran)

Just under two percent of all new IV registrations are due to Long Covid. A study commissioned by the federal government shows that those affected were awarded a pension more frequently than people without Long Covid.

Background The long-term effects of COVID-19, which can vary significantly in type and timing, are considered relevant and impacting on the well-being of individuals. The present study aims to assess the incidence of outpatient care in the post-acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection in two Italian regions. Methods The study has a multicentre, population-based, pre-post, repeated measures design to compare the incidence rate of access to outpatient visits and diagnostics before and after SARS-CoV-2 infection, considering a follow-up of 24 months. The study made use of previously recorded large-scale healthcare data available in the administrative databases of the Emilia-Romagna (E-R) and Veneto regions. Analyses were carried out separately in the two regions and results were pooled using random effects meta-analysis. Results There were 27,140 subjects in E-R and 22,876 in Veneto who were included in the analysis. The pooled outputs showed an increase in rates of outpatient visits and diagnostics starting from month 2 after SARS-CoV-2 infection (IRR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.56–1.81) with a peak at month 4 (IRR = 2.05, 95% CI = 1.95–2.15); the increase continued with reduced intensity up to month 15. Stratified analysis revealed that subjects with severe acute COVID-19 had a higher increase in rates (up to IRR = 3.96, 95% CI = 2.89–5.44), as well as patients with no comorbidities (up to IRR = 2.71, 95% CI = 2.60–2.83). Conclusion Long-term effects of COVID-19 include an increase in the healthcare burden especially in the first months after the acute infection. The increased demand for resources can last up to two years after infection in particular subgroups of patients such as subjects admitted to hospital during the acute phase due to the severe presentation of the disease.

COVID-19 hospitalization was twice as likely as that for flu, and death rates were 3 times higher.

Learn how Nature Research Intelligence gives you complete, forward-looking and trustworthy research insights to guide your research strategy.

The current health and economic burden of Long COVID may already exceed that of a number of other chronic disease and will continue to grow each year as there are more and more COVID-19 cases. This could be a significant drain on businesses, third party payers, the healthcare system, and all of soci …

The COVID-19 pandemic has reported significant alarming aftereffects experienced by some individuals following acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, common...

UK Research and Innovation and National Institute for Health Research. The study was approved by the Leeds West Research Ethics Committee (20/YH/0225) and is registered on the ISRCTN Registry (ISRCTN10980107).

The study provides insights into the complex dynamics of mortality during the COVID-19 crisis, emphasising the need to consider individual-level information on pre-existing health and social background jointly.

Racial/ethnic differences are associated with the symptoms and conditions of post-acute sequelae SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) in adults. These differences may exist among children and warrant further exploration. We conducted a retrospective cohort study with difference-in-differences analyzes to ass …

Females have a 31% higher associated risk of developing long COVID, UT Health San Antonio-led RECOVER study shows

Nearly one in 20 people who had a SARS-CoV-2 infection go on to experience myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, an NIH-funded study showed.

New research finds levels of the chronic condition are now 15 times higher than pre-pandemic.

This study verified moderate coffee consumption, including decaffeination, can provide a new guideline for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2. Based on the results, we also suggest a coffee-drinking plan for people to prevent infection in the post-COVID-19 era.

Post‑COVID‑19 syndrome (or long‑COVID) was recognized as a clinical entity as early as in the spring of 2020, when it was documented that a non‑negligible number of patients with COVID‑19 continued to exhibit symptoms several weeks following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) infection. Although in the beginning of the COVID‑19 pandemic it was considered that almost all SARS‑CoV‑2 infections in children and adolescents were either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, it was duly noted that children and adolescents may also experience prolonged symptoms and may therefore also manifest post‑COVID syndrome. It was subsequently noted that post‑COVID syndrome in children may involve multiple organs and systems and persist, in the majority of cases, for several months; however, in some cases symptoms persisted even following 1 year of follow‑up. There is also evidence to indicate that children with post‑COVID syndrome are at an increased risk of developing anxiety, depression or loss of appetite, while the overall impact of post‑COVID syndrome on the developmental and psychological domain and overall well‑being of children remains largely unknown. The present review discusses the current state of knowledge on post‑COVID syndrome in children and compares it with that of adults. Issues of pathogenesis, prognosis, the role of vaccination and implications for future research are also discussed.

This analysis article aimed to identify and analyze all articles published on the post-COVID-19 condition in Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and risk of bias. We did a systematic survey of the literature with broad inclusion criteria. The only exc …

Objective To estimate the number of people in Australia with long COVID by age group, and the associated medium term productivity and economic losses. Study design Modelling study: a susceptible–e...

A new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine reveals that infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, significantly increases the rate of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) among COVID-19 survivors.

Although the association between HIV and long COVID was inconclusive, the prevalence of long COVID in patients with HIV was high.

Study highlights a fourfold increase in ME/CFS risk among COVID-19 patients, with 89% of post-COVID ME/CFS cases overlapping with severe long COVID symptom clusters.