A study in BMC Infectious Diseases has shown that adults and children hospitalized with COVID-19 are more likely to develop long-term symptoms, or ‘long COVID’. The study looked at data from around 3 million US adults and 675,000 US children. It found that those who tested positive for COVID-19 had a 17% and 18% higher chance, respectively, of having one or more long-COVID symptoms 31 to 150 days after their positive test. They also had a 50% and 40% higher chance, respectively, of having breathing difficulties after recovery.
The study used electronic health record (EHR) data from 43 US sites. The data was collected from patients who had a COVID-19 lab test between March 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021. It included 3,091,580 adults aged 20 or older, and 675,643 children aged 19 or younger. The study showed that being hospitalized within 16 days of a positive COVID-19 test was an indicator of the severity of the disease.
The study also looked at possible conditions 1 to 6 months after COVID testing. These included mental health conditions, chronic kidney disorders, diabetes, blood disorders, major heart events, neurological disorders, and respiratory diseases. Common long-COVID symptoms were also assessed, such as fatigue, breathing difficulties, cough, changes in bowel habits, abdominal pain, headache, cognitive disorders, taste and smell disorders, chest pain, heart rate abnormalities, sleep disorders, and muscle pain.