True prevalence of long-COVID in a nationwide, population cohort study

Hastie, C. E. et al. (2023) True prevalence of long-COVID in a nationwide, population cohort study. Nature Communications, 14, 7892. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-43661-w) (PMID:38036541) (PMCID:PMC10689486)

Abstract

Long-COVID prevalence estimates vary widely and should take account of symptoms that would have occurred anyway. Here we determine the prevalence of symptoms attributable to SARS-CoV-2 infection, taking account of background rates and confounding, in a nationwide population cohort study of 198,096 Scottish adults. 98,666 (49.8%) had symptomatic laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections and 99,430 (50.2%) were age-, sex-, and socioeconomically-matched and never-infected. While 41,775 (64.5%) reported at least one symptom 6 months following SARS-CoV-2 infection, this was also true of 34,600 (50.8%) of those never-infected. The crude prevalence of one or more symptom attributable to SARS-CoV-2 infection was 13.8% (13.2%,14.3%), 12.8% (11.9%,13.6%), and 16.3% (14.4%,18.2%) at 6, 12, and 18 months respectively. Following adjustment for potential confounders, these figures were 6.6% (6.3%, 6.9%), 6.5% (6.0%, 6.9%) and 10.4% (9.1%, 11.6%) respectively. Long-COVID is characterised by a wide range of symptoms that, apart from altered taste and smell, are non-specific. Care should be taken in attributing symptoms to previous SARS-CoV-2 infection.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Long-CISS was funded by the Chief Scientist Office (ref. COV/LTE/20/06) and Public Health Scotland.
• Keywords: Long-COVID, population cohort, SARS-CoV-2 infection.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Blane, Dr David and Hastie, Dr Claire and Browne, Dr Susan and Ibbotson, Dr Tracy and Winter, Dr Andrew and Scott, Dr Janet and Pell, Professor Jill and Lowe, Dr David
• Authors: Hastie, C. E., Lowe, D., McAuley, A., Mills, N. L., Winter, A. J., Black, C., Scott, J. T., O’Donnell, C. A., Blane, D. N., Browne, S., Ibbotson, T. R., and Pell, J. P.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > General Practice and Primary Care; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Public Health; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity
• Journal Name: Nature Communications
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN (Online): 2041-1723
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © The Author(s) 2023
• First Published: First published in Nature Communications 14:7892
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
313130		Defining and understanding the longer-term effects of COVID-19: A mixed methods study exploring the frequency, nature, and impact of 'long COVID' in the Scottish population.	Jill Pell	Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSO)	COV/LTE/20/06	School of Health & Wellbeing