Center of Health Sciences, University of the Faroe Islands, Vestara Bryggja 15, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands; Department of Occupational Medicine and Public Health, The Faroese Hospital System, Sigmundargøta 5, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
Center of Health Sciences, University of the Faroe Islands, Vestara Bryggja 15, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands; Medical Department, National Hospital of the Faroe Islands, J.C. Svabosgøta 41-49, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
Int J Infect Dis. 2022 Sep;122:437-441. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2022.06.031. Epub 2022 Jun 23.
Persistence of COVID-19 symptoms in nonhospitalized individuals beyond a few months has not been well characterized. In this longitudinal study from the Faroe Islands, we present prevalence of long COVID in mainly nonhospitalized patients who were followed up for up to 8 months.
All Faroese individuals with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis from August to December 2020 were invited to participate in this study (n = 297). Demographic and clinical characteristics and self-reported symptoms were ascertained prospectively using a detailed questionnaire administered at repeated phone interviews.
A total of 226 individuals participated at baseline (226/297, 76% participation rate), of whom 170 participants had more than 3 months follow-up. Of these, 39% (n = 67/170, 95% confidence interval [CI] 32-37%) reported persistent symptoms (median [range] 168 [93-231] days) after the acute phase and 8% (n = 14/170, 95% CI 5-13%) reported severe persistent symptoms. The most prevalent symptoms were fatigue (17%) and smell (17%) and taste (14%) dysfunction. Long COVID was more common in people reporting daily medication use (odds ratio 2.34, 95% CI 1.02-5.37).
Our results show that symptoms may take months to resolve, even among nonhospitalized individuals, with a mild illness in the acute phase. Continued monitoring for long COVID is needed to evaluate the added risk of a potential public health concern.
在非住院患者中，新冠病毒症状持续数月以上的情况尚未得到很好的描述。在法罗群岛进行的这项纵向研究中，我们报告了主要非住院患者中长新冠的流行情况，这些患者的随访时间长达 8 个月。
我们邀请了 2020 年 8 月至 12 月期间在法罗群岛确诊感染新冠病毒的所有个体参与这项研究（n=297）。使用详细的问卷，通过反复的电话访谈，前瞻性地确定人口统计学和临床特征以及自我报告的症状。
共有 226 人在基线时参与（226/297，76%的参与率），其中 170 人有超过 3 个月的随访。在这些人中，39%（n=67/170，95%置信区间[CI]32-37%）在急性阶段后报告持续症状（中位数[范围]168[93-231]天），8%（n=14/170，95%CI5-13%）报告严重持续症状。最常见的症状是疲劳（17%）、嗅觉（17%）和味觉（14%）障碍。报告每天用药的人长新冠更常见（比值比 2.34，95%CI1.02-5.37）。
我们的结果表明，即使在急性阶段病情较轻的非住院患者中，症状也可能需要数月才能缓解。需要继续监测长新冠，以评估潜在公共卫生问题的附加风险。
