About 30 percent of COVID patients develop 'Long COVID,' research finds


Date:
April 19, 2022
Source:
University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
Summary:
New research finds that 30 percent of people treated for COVID-19
developed Post Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), most commonly
known as 'Long COVID.'


FULL STORY ==========================================================================
New UCLA research finds that 30% of people treated for COVID-19
developed Post Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), most commonly known as
"Long COVID." People with a history of hospitalization, diabetes, and
higher body mass index were most likely to develop the condition, while
those covered by Medicaid, as opposed to commercial health insurance,
or had undergone an organ transplant were less likely to develop
it. Surprisingly, ethnicity, older age, and socioeconomic status were
not associated with the syndrome even though those characteristics have
been linked with severe illness and greater risk of death from COVID-19.


==========================================================================
Of the 309 people with long COVID studied, the most persistent symptoms
were fatigue and shortness of breath (31% and 15%, respectively) in hospitalized persons, and loss of sense of smell (16%) in outpatients.

The incidence and risk factors of Long COVID, and even how to define
the syndrome, have remained unclear throughout the pandemic. The
researchers sought evaluate its association with demographics and clinical characteristics in order to devise the most effective treatments.

The UCLA researchers studied 1,038 people who were enrolled in the UCLA
COVID Ambulatory Program between April 2020 and February 2021. Of those,
309 developed Long COVID. A person was determined to have the syndrome
if they reported persistent symptoms on questionnaires 60 or 90 days
after infection or hospitalization.

Potential weaknesses in the study include the subjective nature of
how patients rated their symptoms, the limited number of symptoms
the researchers evaluated, and limited information about patients'
pre-existing conditions.

"This study illustrates the need to follow diverse patient populations longitudinally to understand the Long COVID disease trajectory and
evaluate how individual factors such as pre-existing co-morbidities, sociodemographic factors, vaccination status and virus variant type affect
type and persistence of Long COVID symptoms," said Dr Sun Yoo, health
sciences assistant clinical professor at David Geffen School of Medicine
at UCLA and medical director of the Extensivist Program. "Studying
outcomes in a single health system can minimize variation in quality of
medical care. Our study also raises questions such as: Why were patients
with commercial insurance twice as likely to develop Long COVID than
patients insured through Medicaid? Because persistent symptoms can
be subjective in nature, we need better tools to accurately diagnose
Long COVID and to differentiate it from exacerbations of other emerging
or chronic conditions. Finally, we need to ensure equitable access to outpatient Long COVID care." Additional study authors are Dr. Teresa
Liu, Yash Motwani, Myung Sim, Dr. Nisha Viswanathan, Dr. Nathan Samras,
Dr. Felicia Hsu, and Dr. Neil Wenger of UCLA.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_California_-_Los_Angeles_Health_Sciences.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Sun M. Yoo, Teresa C. Liu, Yash Motwani, Myung S. Sim, Nisha
Viswanathan,
Nathan Samras, Felicia Hsu, Neil S. Wenger. Factors Associated
with Post- Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) After Diagnosis
of Symptomatic COVID- 19 in the Inpatient and Outpatient Setting
in a Diverse Cohort. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2022;
DOI: 10.1007/s11606-022-07523-3 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220419092334.htm

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