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. 2024 Jan 23;24(1):119.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-023-08710-1.

Long-term symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection in a cohort of hospital employees: duration and predictive factors

Rosalie Gruber  1   2 , María Verónica Montilva Ludewig  3   4 , Christina Weßels  3   4 , Gerlinde Schlang  5 , Svenja Jedhoff  6 , Swetlana Herbrandt  6 , Frauke Mattner  3   4
Affiliations

Long-term symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection in a cohort of hospital employees: duration and predictive factors

Rosalie Gruber et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the frequency, duration and patterns of long-term coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms and to analyse risk factors for long-lasting COVID-19 sequelae among a cohort of hospital employees (HEs).

Methods: We conducted a survey regarding persistent COVID-19 related symptoms with all HEs from three medical centres in Cologne, Germany, who were tested SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive from March 2020 until May 2021. Duration of symptoms and possible risk factors for protracted COVID-19 course were analysed.

Results: Of 221 included HEs, a number of 104 HEs (47.1%) reported at least one persisting symptom for more than 90 days after initial SARS-CoV-2 detection. Each one cycle higher initial Ct value significantly increased the chances of overcoming symptoms (odds ratio [OR] 1.05; 95% confidence interval (95%CI) 1.01-1.09; p = 0.019). The occurrence of breathlessness within the first ten days (OR 7.89; 95%CI 1.87-41.43; p = 0.008), an initial Ct value under 30 (OR 3.36; 95%CI 1.22-9.94; p = 0.022) as well as the occurrence of anosmia or ageusia within the first ten days (OR 3.01; 95%CI 1.10-8.84; p = 0.037) showed a statistically significant association with increased odds of illness duration over 90 days.

Conclusion: About half of the HEs suffered from long lasting symptoms over 90 days after almost entirely mild acute COVID-19. Predictive factors could possibly be used for early treatment to prevent development of long-term symptoms after COVID-19 in future.

Keywords: COVID-19; Healthcare worker; Long COVID; Post COVID syndrome; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Co-occurrence network of symptoms. Symptom network includes symptoms only of hospital employees with symptom duration of maximum 28 days (N = 33). Each line shows the simultaneous occurrence of the respective symptoms. The thicker the line, the more often symptoms occurred simultaneously
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Co-occurrence network of symptoms. Symptom network includes symptoms only of hospital employees with symptom duration more than 28 days (N = 161). Each line shows the simultaneous occurrence of the respective symptoms. The thicker the line, the more often symptoms occurred simultaneously
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Kaplan-Meier curves of probability of symptom persistence. For each symptom, the number of hospital employees (N) who developed the respective symptom is stated. The percentage of censored data indicates how many hospital employees still had the respective symptom at the time of the survey. All graphs were arranged from top left to bottom right with increasing 28-days survival probability of the respective symptom
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