Long COVID most prevalent in the most seriously ill

The results of a new study, which comprised about 65 thousand adults from Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, indicate that the severity of the illness caused by the COVID-19 disease is a determining factor in the risk of long-term physical symptoms of those who become infected. The study was carried out as part of the COVIDMENT research project and was published today in the scientific journal The Lancet Regional Health - Europe.

COVIDMENT is a collaborative project of scientists from universities and institutions in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, and Scotland as well as Iceland, but the project is led by the research group of Unnur Anna Valdimarsdóttir and Thor Aspelund, professors at the Centre of Public Health Sciences at the University of Iceland. The project recently received a two-year research grant from NordForsk .

In the present study, researchers examined the prevalence of persistent physical symptoms in individuals with different degrees of COVID-19 severity and compared them with people who had not had a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis from April 2020 to August 2022. Over 22,000 of the participants were diagnosed with COVID-19 during the period, almost 10 per cent of whom were bedridden for at least seven days. The prevalence of chronic symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest pain, dizziness, headaches, and low energy/ fatigue, was 37 per cent higher in those who had had a COVID-19 diagnosis than in those who had not.
 

Patients who had been bedridden for at least seven days during the SARS-CoV-2 infection had the highest prevalence of severe physical symptom burden, over double that of those not diagnosed with COVID-19. They also had the most persistent symptoms for up to two years after diagnosis. However, participants who had never been bedridden during their infection presented with a similar prevalence to people who had not been diagnosed with COVID-19.

"These results provide important evidence regarding the development of persistent physical symptoms subsequent to a COVID-19 infection, commonly referred to as Long COVID, which today is a major public health challenge since the  large majority of the global population has been infected” says Unnur. Thor underscores the study implications by stating "The results of the study further emphasize the importance of monitoring long-term physical symptoms after diagnosis, especially in people who experienced severe COVID-19."
 

COVIDMENT is a collaborative project of scientists from universities and institutions in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, and Scotland as well as Iceland, but the project is led by the research group of Unnur Anna Valdimarsdóttir and Thor Aspelund, professors at the Centre of Public Health Sciences at the University of Iceland.