Risk factors of post-COVID-19 conditions attributed to COVID-19 disease in people aged ≥50 years in Europe and Israel

Abstract

ObjectivesHigh age, male sex and pre-existing comorbidities are risk factors for a more severe development of COVID-19, and individuals surviving COVID-19 may experience persistent symptoms afterwards referred to as ‘post-COVID-19 condition’, which represents a range of symptoms after recovering from COVID-19. This study aims at identifying risk factors of post-COVID-19 conditions among people aged ≥50 years. Study designWe conducted a cross-sectional study based on data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. MethodsA multiple logistic regression model was used to investigate age, sex, education, comorbidities, smoking, body mass index, and COVID-19 hospitalisation as risk factors of post-COVID-19 condition. ResultsParticipants aged ≥70 years (odds ratio [OR] 1.61) with medium (OR 2.38) and lower (OR 2.14) educational levels have a higher risk of post-COVID-19 conditions. In addition, when considering the severity of the COVID-19 disease, those who were hospitalised due to COVID-19 had a 26 times higher risk of post-COVID-19 conditions compared with those who were only tested positive (OR 25.9). ConclusionsThis study supports that health inequalities exist across educational levels with respect to post-COVID-19 conditions, although misclassification may be more common among lower educated participants. The results suggest that policy makers should increase educational interventions towards increasing health literacy.