Diagnosis and Therapy of Infectious Diseases and Cancer, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), 1715 Augusto de Lima Avenue, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais 30190-002, Brazil.
Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Minas Gerais, 6627 Presidente Antônio Carlos Avenue, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais 31270-901, Brazil.
Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2022 Nov 1;116(11):1007-1014. doi: 10.1093/trstmh/trac030.
A growing number of long COVID cases after infection have been reported. By definition, long COVID is the condition whereby affected individuals do not recover for several weeks or months following the onset of symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, the profile and timeline of which remains uncertain.
In this work, in-home, outpatient and hospitalized COVID-19 positive patients were monitored for up to 14 mo to establish the prevalence of long COVID symptoms and their correlation with age, pre-existing comorbidities and course of acute infection. The longitudinal study included 646 positive patients who were monitored once a month.
From the whole population, 50.2% presented with long COVID syndrome. Twenty-three different symptoms were reported. Most frequent were fatigue (35.6%), persistent cough (34.0%), dyspnea (26.5%), loss of smell/taste (20.1%) and frequent headaches (17.3%). Mental disorders (20.7%), change in blood pressure (7.4%) and thrombosis (6.2%) were also reported. Most patients presented with 2-3 symptoms at the same time. Long COVID started after mild, moderate and severe infection in 60, 13 and 27% of cases, respectively, and it was not restricted to specific age groups.
Older patients tended to have more severe symptoms, leading to a longer post-COVID-19 period. The presence of seven comorbidities was correlated with the severity of infection, and severity itself was the main factor that determined the duration of symptoms in long COVID cases.
越来越多的 COVID 后长期病症病例被报道。根据定义，长期 COVID 是指在 COVID-19 症状出现后数周或数月仍未康复的患者，其特征和时间进程仍不确定。
本研究对居家、门诊和住院的 COVID-19 阳性患者进行了长达 14 个月的监测，以确定长期 COVID 症状的流行情况及其与年龄、既往合并症和急性感染过程的相关性。这项纵向研究纳入了 646 名阳性患者，他们每月监测一次。
在整个人群中，有 50.2%出现了长期 COVID 综合征。报告了 23 种不同的症状。最常见的是疲劳（35.6%）、持续咳嗽（34.0%）、呼吸困难（26.5%）、嗅觉/味觉丧失（20.1%）和频繁头痛（17.3%）。还报告了精神障碍（20.7%）、血压变化（7.4%）和血栓形成（6.2%）。大多数患者同时出现 2-3 种症状。轻度、中度和重度感染后分别有 60%、13%和 27%的患者出现长期 COVID，且不限于特定年龄组。
老年患者的症状往往更严重，导致 COVID 后康复时间更长。七种合并症的存在与感染的严重程度相关，而严重程度本身是决定长期 COVID 患者症状持续时间的主要因素。
