Post-COVID-19-associated multiorgan complications or "long COVID" with literature review and management strategy discussion: A meta-analysis.

Abstract

To investigate the post-COVID-19 long-term complications or long COVID of various organ systems in patients after 3 months of the infection, specifically before the Omicron variant, with comparative literature analysis. A systemic literature search and meta-analysis were conducted using multiple electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane library) with predefined search terms to identify eligible articles. Eligible studies reported long-term complications of COVID-19 infection before the Omicron variant infection. Case reports, case series, observational studies with cross-sectional or prospective research design, case-control studies, and experimental studies that reported post-COVID-19 complications were included. The complications reported after 3 months after the recovery from COVID-19 infection were included in the study. The total number of studies available for analysis was 34. The effect size (ES) for neurological complications was 29% with 95% confidence interval (CI): 19%-39%. ES for psychiatric complications was 24% with 95% CI: 7%-41%. ES was 9% for cardiac outcomes, with a 95% CI of 1%-18%. ES was 22%, 95% CI: 5%-39% for the gastrointestinal outcome. ES for musculoskeletal symptoms was 18% with 95% CI: 9%-28%. ES for pulmonary complications was 28% with 95% CI: 18%-37%. ES for dermatological complications was 25%, with a 95% CI of 23%-26%. ES for endocrine outcomes was 8%, with a 95% CI of 8%-9%. ES size for renal outcomes was 3% with a 95% CI of 1%-7%. At the same time, other miscellaneous uncategorized outcomes had ES of 39% with 95% CI of21%-57%. Apart from analyzing COVID-19 systemic complications outcomes, the ES for hospitalization and intensivecare unitadmissions were found to be 4%, 95% CI: 0%-7%, and 11% with 95% CI: 8%-14%. By acquiring the data and statistically analyzing the post-COVID-19 complications during the prevalence of most virulent strains, this study has generated a different way of understanding COVID-19 and its complications for better community health.