Trial Report Case-control study on post-COVID-19 conditions reveals severe acute infection and chronic pulmonary disease as potential risk factors, 2024, Ghosh

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224016316

iScience
Available online 28 June 2024, 110406


Article
Case-control study on post-COVID-19 conditions reveals severe acute infection and chronic pulmonary disease as potential risk factors
Pritha Ghosh1+, Michiel J.M. Niesen2+, Colin Pawlowski2 , Hari Bandi2 , Unice Yoo2 , Patrick J. Lenehan2 , Praveen Kumar-M.1 , Mihika Nadig2 , Jason Ross3 , Sankar Ardhanari4 , John C. O’Horo5 , AJ Venkatakrishnan2 , Clifford J. Rosen6,7, Amalio Telenti8 , Ryan T. Hurt5,*, Venky Soundararajan1,2,3,4,9,*,#

open access

Highlights

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  Compared EHR data for 1,086 patients with/without post-COVID conditions.
  
  
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  Post-COVID conditions linked to chronic pulmonary disease, migraine, fibromyalgia.
  
  
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  Post-COVID conditions linked to elevated inflammation markers.
  
  
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  Patients with post-COVID conditions showed more severe acute COVID symptoms.
  

Summary

Post-COVID-19 conditions (long COVID) has impacted many individuals, yet risk factors for this condition are poorly understood.

This retrospective analysis of 88,943 COVID-19 patients at a multi-state US health system compares phenotypes, laboratory tests, medication orders, and outcomes for 1,086 long-COVID patients and their matched controls.

We found that history of chronic pulmonary disease (CPD) (odds ratio: 1.9, 95% CI: [1.5, 2.6]), migraine (OR: 2.2, [1.6, 3.1]), and fibromyalgia (OR: 2.3, [1.3, 3.8]) were more common for long-COVID patients.

During the acute infection phase long-COVID patients exhibited high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and a high neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio; and were more likely hospitalized (5% vs 1%).

Our findings suggest severity of acute infection and history of CPD, migraine, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), or fibromyalgia as risk factors for long COVID.

These results suggest that suppressing acute disease severity proactively, especially in patients at high risk, can reduce incidence of long COVID.