Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Aug 9;11(1):16144.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-95565-8.

More than 50 long-term effects of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Sandra Lopez-Leon  1 , Talia Wegman-Ostrosky  2 , Carol Perelman  3 , Rosalinda Sepulveda  4 , Paulina A Rebolledo  5   6 , Angelica Cuapio  7 , Sonia Villapol  8   9
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

More than 50 long-term effects of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Sandra Lopez-Leon et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

COVID-19 can involve persistence, sequelae, and other medical complications that last weeks to months after initial recovery. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to identify studies assessing the long-term effects of COVID-19. LitCOVID and Embase were searched to identify articles with original data published before the 1st of January 2021, with a minimum of 100 patients. For effects reported in two or more studies, meta-analyses using a random-effects model were performed using the MetaXL software to estimate the pooled prevalence with 95% CI. PRISMA guidelines were followed. A total of 18,251 publications were identified, of which 15 met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of 55 long-term effects was estimated, 21 meta-analyses were performed, and 47,910 patients were included (age 17-87 years). The included studies defined long-COVID as ranging from 14 to 110 days post-viral infection. It was estimated that 80% of the infected patients with SARS-CoV-2 developed one or more long-term symptoms. The five most common symptoms were fatigue (58%), headache (44%), attention disorder (27%), hair loss (25%), and dyspnea (24%). Multi-disciplinary teams are crucial to developing preventive measures, rehabilitation techniques, and clinical management strategies with whole-patient perspectives designed to address long COVID-19 care.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors are solely responsible for all content, and funders played no role in study design, data collection, and analysis, the decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. S.L.L. is an employee of Novartis Pharmaceutical Company; the statements presented in the paper do not necessarily represent the position of the company. The remaining authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study selection. Preferred items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) flow diagram. Out of 15,917 identified studies and after application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 15 studies were included in the quantitative synthesis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Long-term effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The meta-analysis of the studies included an estimate for one symptom or more reported that 80% of the patients with COVID-19 have long-term symptoms. CRP C-reactive protein, CT computed tomography, IL-6 Interleukin-6, NT-proBNP (NT)-pro hormone BNP, OCD Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder. This figure was created using Biorender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Update of

Comment in

References

    1. Ritchie, H., Ortiz-Ospina, E., Beltekian, D., Mathieu, E., Hasell, J., Macdonald, B., Giattino, C., Appel, C., Rodés-Guirao, L., & Roser, M. Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19). (2021).
    1. Rubin R. As their numbers grow, COVID-19 "long haulers" stump experts. JAMA. 2020;324:1381–1383. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.17709. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tenforde MW, et al. Symptom duration and risk factors for delayed return to usual health among outpatients with COVID-19 in a multistate health care systems network—United States, March-June 2020. Morb. Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020;69:993–998. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6930e1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Townsend L, et al. Persistent poor health post-COVID-19 is not associated with respiratory complications or initial disease severity. Ann. Am. Thorac. Soc. 2021 doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202009-1175OC. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gemelli Against C-P-ACSG. Post-COVID-19 global health strategies: The need for an interdisciplinary approach. Aging Clin. Exp. Res. 2020;32:1613–1620. doi: 10.1007/s40520-020-01616-x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms