Infect Chemother.
2025 Mar;57(1):72-80. 10.3947/ic.2024.0090.
Characteristics and Prevalence of Sequelae after COVID-19: A Longitudinal Cohort Study
- Lee SJ
1,2 - Baek YJ3
- Lee SH4
- Kim JH1
- Ahn JY1
- Kim J5
- Jeon JH5
- Seok H5
- Choi WS5
- Park DW5
- Choi Y6
- Song KH6
- Kim ES6
- Kim HB6
- Ko JH7
- Peck KR7
- Choi JP8
- Kim JH9
- Kim HS9
- Jeong HW9
- Choi JY1
- Affiliations
-
- 1Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- 2Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Inha University College of Medicine, Incheon, Korea
- 3Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital, Seoul, Korea
- 4Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- 5Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan, Korea
- 6Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea
- 7Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- 8Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Korea
- 9Department of Internal Medicine, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea
- KMID: 2566782
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.3947/ic.2024.0090
Abstract
- Background
The World Health Organization has declared the end of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency. However, this did not indicate the end of COVID-19. Several months after the infection, numerous patients complain of respiratory or nonspecific symptoms; this condition is called long COVID. Even patients with mild COVID-19 can experience long COVID, thus the burden of long COVID remains considerable. Therefore, we conducted this study to comprehensively analyze the effects of long COVID using multi-faceted assessments.
Materials and Methods
We conducted a prospective cohort study involving patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between February 2020 and September 2021 in six tertiary hospitals in Korea. Patients were followed up at 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after discharge. Long COVID was defined as the persistence of three or more COVID-19-related symptoms. The primary outcome of this study was the prevalence of long COVID after the period of COVID-19.
Results
During the study period, 290 patients were enrolled. Among them, 54.5 and 34.6% experienced long COVID within 6 months and after more than 18 months, respectively. Several patients showed abnormal results when tested for post-traumatic stress disorder (17.4%) and anxiety (31.9%) after 18 months. In patients who underwent follow-up chest computed tomography 18 months after COVID-19, abnormal findings remained at 51.9%. Males (odds ratio [OR], 0.17; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.05–0.53; P=0.004) and elderly (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.00–1.09; P=0.04) showed a significant association with long COVID after 12–18 months in a multivariable logistic regression analysis.
Conclusion
Many patients still showed long COVID after 18 months post SARS-CoV-2 infection. When managing these patients, the assessment of multiple aspects is necessary.
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