Abstract
Whilst the entire world is battling the second wave of COVID-19, a substantial proportion of patients who have suffered from the condition in the past months are reporting symptoms that last for months after recovery, i. e., long-term COVID-19 symptoms. We aimed to assess the current evidence on the long-term symptoms in COVID-19 patients. We did a systematic review on PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Google Scholar from database inception to February 15, 2021, for studies on long-term COVID-19 symptoms. We included all type of papers that reported at least one long-term COVID-19 symptom. We screened studies using a standardized data collection form and pooled data from published studies. Cohort cross-sectional, case-report, cases-series, case-control studies, and review were graded using specific quality assessment tools. Of 11,361 publications found following our initial search we assessed 218 full-text articles, of which 145 met all selection criteria. We found that 20.70% of reports on long-term COVID-19 symptoms were on abnormal lung functions, 24.13% on neurologic complaints and olfactory dysfunctions, and 55.17% on specific widespread symptoms, mainly chronic fatigue, and pain. Despite the relatively high heterogeneity of the reviewed studies, our findings highlighted that a noteworthy proportion of patients who have suffered from SARS-CoV-2 infection present a “post-COVID syndrome.” The multifaceted understanding of all aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including these long-term symptoms, will allow us to respond to all the global health challenges, thus paving the way to a stronger public health.
Highlights
As of March 2021, about 117 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID19, with more than 2.6 million deaths [1]
A substantial proportion of patients who have been infected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2 continue to have symptoms long past the time that they recovered from the initial phases of COVID-19 disease
Based on the COVID19 Symptom Study, a study carried-out on more than 4 million people in the US, UK, and Sweden, in which people enter their ongoing symptoms on a smartphone app, around 10% of patients who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus remain unwell beyond 3 weeks, and a smaller proportion for months [8]
Summary
As of March 2021, about 117 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID19, with more than 2.6 million deaths [1]. A substantial proportion of patients who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 continue to have symptoms long past the time that they recovered from the initial phases of COVID-19 disease. Based on the COVID19 Symptom Study, a study carried-out on more than 4 million people in the US, UK, and Sweden, in which people enter their ongoing symptoms on a smartphone app, around 10% of patients who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus remain unwell beyond 3 weeks, and a smaller proportion for months [8] It is becoming clear, that some people who had a SARS-CoV-2 infection, even those described as “mild,” continue to suffer from persisting or cyclical symptoms. Realizing the long-term sequelae of COVID19 is imperative for understanding the complete history of disease, truly predicting the growing effect of the disease beyond hospitalization and mortality and defining whether inpatient or post-discharge-specific rehabilitation should be evaluated
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