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. 2023 Dec;44(12):1972-1978.
doi: 10.1017/ice.2023.95. Epub 2023 Jun 5.

Risk factors for long coronavirus disease 2019 (long COVID) among healthcare personnel, Brazil, 2020-2022

Alexandre R Marra  1   2 , Vanderson Souza Sampaio  3 , Mina Cintho Ozahata  3 , Rafael Lopes  3 , Anderson F Brito  3 , Marcelo Bragatte  3 , Jorge Kalil  3 , João Luiz Miraglia  1 , Daniel Tavares Malheiro  1 , Yang Guozhang  1 , Vanessa Damazio Teich  1 , Elivane da Silva Victor  1 , João Renato Rebello Pinho  1 , Adriana Cypriano  1 , Laura Wanderly Vieira  1 , Miria Polonio  1 , Solange Miranda de Oliveira  1 , Victória Catharina Volpe Ricardo  1 , Aline Miho Maezato  1 , Gustavo Yano Callado  1 , Guilherme de Paula Pinto Schettino  1 , Ketti Gleyzer de Oliveira  1 , Rúbia Anita Ferraz Santana  1 , Fernanda de Mello Malta  1 , Deyvid Amgarten  1 , Ana Laura Boechat  1 , Takaaki Kobayashi  2 , Eli Perencevich  2 , Michael B Edmond  4 , Luiz Vicente Rizzo  1
Affiliations

Risk factors for long coronavirus disease 2019 (long COVID) among healthcare personnel, Brazil, 2020-2022

Alexandre R Marra et al. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: To determine risk factors for the development of long coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in healthcare personnel (HCP).

Methods: We conducted a case-control study among HCP who had confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 working in a Brazilian healthcare system between March 1, 2020, and July 15, 2022. Cases were defined as those having long COVID according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition. Controls were defined as HCP who had documented COVID-19 but did not develop long COVID. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the association between exposure variables and long COVID during 180 days of follow-up.

Results: Of 7,051 HCP diagnosed with COVID-19, 1,933 (27.4%) who developed long COVID were compared to 5,118 (72.6%) who did not. The majority of those with long COVID (51.8%) had 3 or more symptoms. Factors associated with the development of long COVID were female sex (OR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.05-1.39), age (OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 1.00-1.02), and 2 or more SARS-CoV-2 infections (OR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.07-1.50). Those infected with the SARS-CoV-2 δ (delta) variant (OR, 0.30; 95% CI, 0.17-0.50) or the SARS-CoV-2 o (omicron) variant (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.30-0.78), and those receiving 4 COVID-19 vaccine doses prior to infection (OR, 0.05; 95% CI, 0.01-0.19) were significantly less likely to develop long COVID.

Conclusions: Long COVID can be prevalent among HCP. Acquiring >1 SARS-CoV-2 infection was a major risk factor for long COVID, while maintenance of immunity via vaccination was highly protective.

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Conflict of interest statement

V.S.S., M.C.O., M.B., A.B., and J.K. are researchers at Instituto Todos pela Saúde (ITpS), which funded this research.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
SARS-CoV-2 circulating variants. The figure shows the percentage of SARS-CoV-2 circulating variants sequences submitted to the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenzae Data (GISAID) in São Paulo, Brazil, during the study period. Only variants with the most significant percentage are shown for each period. Individual plots for each variant era are shown at the top left and bottom of the figure.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Number of long COVID-19 signs and symptoms per HCP.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Most frequent symptoms of long COVID during 180 days of follow-up.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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