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. 2023 Dec;12(2):2220578.
doi: 10.1080/22221751.2023.2220578.

A one-year follow-up study of systematic impact of long COVID symptoms among patients post SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants infection in Shanghai, China

Jianpeng Cai  1 , Ke Lin  1 , Haocheng Zhang  1 , Quanlin Xue  1 , Kun Zhu  1 , Guanmin Yuan  1 , Yuhan Sun  1 , Feng Zhu  2 , Jingwen Ai  1 , Sen Wang  1   3 , Wenhong Zhang  1   3
Affiliations

A one-year follow-up study of systematic impact of long COVID symptoms among patients post SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants infection in Shanghai, China

Jianpeng Cai et al. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2023 Dec.

Erratum in

  • Correction.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Emerg Microbes Infect. 2024 Dec;13(1):2355702. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2024.2355702. Epub 2024 Jun 2. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2024. PMID: 38825959 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Long COVID hinders people from normal life and work, posing significant medical and economic challenges. Nevertheless, comprehensive studies assessing its impact on large populations in Asia are still lacking. We tracked over 20,000 patients infected with COVID-19 for the first time during the Omicron BA.2 outbreak in Shanghai from March-June 2022 for one year. Of the 21,799 COVID-19 patients who participated in the 6-month telephone follow-up, 1939 (8.89%) had self-reported long COVID symptoms. 450 long COVID patients participated in the 6-month outpatient follow-up. Participants underwent healthy physical examinations and questionnaires focused on long-COVID-related symptoms and mental health. Mobility problem (P < 0.001), personal care problem (P = 0.003), usual activity problem (P < 0.001), pain/discomfort (P < 0.001), anxiety/depression (P = 0.001) and PTSD (P = 0.001) were more prevalent in long COVID patients than in healthy individuals, but no significant differences were found between the two groups on chest CT and laboratory examinations. Of the 856 long COVID patients who participated in the 12-month follow-up, 587 (68.5%) had their symptoms resolved. In the multivariable logistic analysis, females (P < 0.001), youth (age <40 years) (P < 0.001), ≥ 2 comorbidities (P = 0.009), and severe infection in the acute phase (P = 0.006) were risk factors for developing long COVID. Middle age (40-60 years) was a risk factor for persistent long COVID one year after hospital discharge (P = 0.013). The study found that long COVID mainly manifested as subjective symptoms and impacts partial patients' quality of life and mental status. After one year, most (68.5%) of the patients recovered from long COVID with no impairment of organ function observed.

Keywords: COVID-19; follow-up study; long COVID; omicron variant; post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow chart of the study.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Forest plot of long COVID symptoms in patients infected with COVID-19, with the healthy control as reference.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Dynamic change of long COVID symptoms of participants who completed 6-month, and 12-month follow-up. *P < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Supplementary concepts

Grants and funding

This study was funded by project supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (82341033), Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (HS2021SHZX001), Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (20dz2260100, 21NL2600100).