Tracking Survivors With Long COVID: Method, Implementation, and Results of an Observational Study.
Horng-Shiuann Wu, Dola Pathak, Mandy Hall and 1 others
PMID 39764743WHAT IT FOUND
Months since diagnosis did not relate to symptom number, severity, or interference in adults at least 3 months after confirmed COVID-19.
Women reported more symptoms, greater severity, and more daily interference than men.
Key findings
01After age, sex, race, cohort, and diagnosis location were considered, months since diagnosis did not show a relationship with symptom number, total severity, or total interference.
02The 2020-2021 cohort had more participants reporting at least one symptom (66.0%) than the 2021-2022 cohort (47.1%), but about 16% in each cohort reported 7 or more symptoms.
03Women reported more symptoms, higher severity, and more interference than men; outpatient diagnosis was linked to lower severity and interference than emergency department diagnosis.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 284 of 3,004 contacted patients completed interviews, and nonrespondents' characteristics were unknown. The sample was mostly White; only 23% were non-White, so findings may not represent all people with long COVID. Cohorts were defined by calendar time, not by confirmed variant or vaccination status. The planned 30-day recruitment window was relaxed, so time since diagnosis varied and was summarized in months. Symptoms were self-reported by phone, and participants might be hesitant to disclose true symptoms, so reports could be biased. The symptom checklist was not validated for people with COVID-19. Sixteen patient IDs could not be resolved and were excluded. Adults aged 18 to 20 were not included.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that newer variants or vaccination caused fewer symptoms. The 2021-2022 cohort had fewer people reporting at least one symptom, but cohort year did not show a relationship with symptom number, severity, or interference after other characteristics were considered, and variant and vaccination status were not measured.