Bui David P, Bast Elizabeth, Trinh Hanh, Fox Alexandra, Berkowitz Theodore S Z, Palacio Ana, Wander Pandora L, O'Hare Ann M, Boyko Edward J, Ioannou George N, Maciejewski Matthew L, Hynes Denise M
VA Health Systems Research (HSR) Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care (CIVIC), VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR 97239, United States.
Miami VA Health Care System, Miami, FL 33125, United States.
Health Aff Sch. 2025 Apr 11;3(5):qxaf080. doi: 10.1093/haschl/qxaf080. eCollection 2025 May.
Long COVID is a serious chronic illness that can present in many forms and impact daily functioning and quality of life. Without curative treatments, management of long COVID requires coordination and ongoing access to multidisciplinary care. Starting in 2020, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), established a national network of Long COVID Clinics (LCCs). In this retrospective cohort study of 494 547 veterans with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection in the VHA from March 2020 to April 2022 ( = 494 547), we examined trends in ICD-10 U09.9 diagnosis code use for long COVID and LCC use in the VHA up to May 2024. Overall, 5.9% ( = 29 195) of patients in our cohort had a documented U09.9 code and 2% had at least 1 LCC visit. Among veterans with a U09.9 code, 17.4% ( = 5089) used LCCs. LCC use rates were low across all patient subgroups. LCCs were more available to veterans residing in the South census region (28% vs <7% use rate) than veterans in other regions. Developing evidence about LCC effectiveness and ensuring equitable access to LCCs within and beyond the VHA will be critical in meeting the evolving needs of people with long COVID.
长期新冠是一种严重的慢性疾病，可呈现多种形式，影响日常功能和生活质量。由于缺乏治愈性治疗方法，长期新冠的管理需要多学科护理的协调和持续支持。自2020年起，退伍军人健康管理局（VHA）建立了全国性的长期新冠诊所（LCC）网络。在这项对2020年3月至2022年4月期间VHA记录的494547名感染SARS-CoV-2的退伍军人进行的回顾性队列研究中（n = 494547），我们研究了截至2024年5月VHA中用于长期新冠的ICD-10 U09.9诊断代码使用趋势以及LCC的使用情况。总体而言，我们队列中的5.9%（n = 29195）患者有记录的U09.9代码，2%的患者至少有1次LCC就诊。在有U09.9代码的退伍军人中，17.4%（n = 5089）使用了LCC。所有患者亚组的LCC使用率都很低。居住在南部人口普查地区的退伍军人比其他地区的退伍军人更容易获得LCC服务（使用率分别为28%和<7%）。获取有关LCC有效性的证据并确保VHA内外的人群公平获得LCC服务对于满足长期新冠患者不断变化的需求至关重要。
