Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, San Diego, CA 92037, USA.
School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, San Diego, CA 92093, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024 Sep 12;21(9):1205. doi: 10.3390/ijerph21091205.
Many patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) continue to experience symptoms for weeks to years as sequelae of the initial infection, referred to as "Long COVID". Although many studies have described the incidence and symptomatology of Long COVID, there are little data reporting the potential burden of Long COVID on surgical departments. A previously constructed database of survey respondents who tested positive for COVID-19 was queried, identifying patients reporting experiencing symptoms consistent with Long COVID. Additional chart review determined whether respondents had a surgical or non-routine invasive procedure on or following the date of survey completion. Outcomes from surgeries on patients reporting Long COVID symptoms were compared to those from asymptomatic patients. A total of 17.4% of respondents had surgery or a non-routine invasive procedure in the study period. A total of 48.8% of these patients reported experiencing symptoms consistent with Long COVID. No statistically significant differences in surgical outcomes were found between groups. The results of this analysis demonstrate that Long COVID does not appear to have created a significant burden of surgical disease processes on the healthcare system despite the wide range of chronic symptoms and increased healthcare utilization by this population. This knowledge can help guide surgical operational resource allocation as a result of the pandemic and its longer-term sequelae.
许多感染 SARS-CoV-2 病毒（COVID-19）的患者在初始感染后会持续数周到数年出现症状，这种情况被称为“长新冠”。尽管许多研究已经描述了长新冠的发病率和症状，但很少有数据报告长新冠对外科部门的潜在负担。先前构建的针对 COVID-19 检测呈阳性的调查受访者的数据库被查询，确定了报告有长新冠症状的患者。进一步的图表审查确定受访者是否在调查完成日期或之后进行了手术或非常规的有创程序。报告有长新冠症状的患者的手术结果与无症状患者的手术结果进行了比较。在研究期间，受访者中有 17.4%接受了手术或非常规的有创程序。其中 48.8%的患者报告出现了与长新冠一致的症状。两组之间的手术结果没有统计学上的显著差异。这项分析的结果表明，尽管这一人群存在广泛的慢性症状和增加的医疗保健利用，但长新冠似乎并没有给医疗保健系统带来显著的手术疾病负担。由于大流行及其长期后果，这一知识可以帮助指导外科运营资源的分配。
