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. 2024 Oct 22;8(1):122.
doi: 10.1186/s41687-024-00797-7.

Associations between symptom-based long COVID clusters and long-term quality of life, work and daily activities among individuals testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 at a national retail pharmacy

Manuela Di Fusco  1 , Joseph C Cappelleri  2 , Alon Yehoshua  2 , Kelly J Thomas Craig  3 , Mary B Alvarez  2 , Kristen E Allen  2 , Thomas M Porter  2 , Santiago M C Lopez  2 , Laura Puzniak  2 , Xiaowu Sun  3
Affiliations

Associations between symptom-based long COVID clusters and long-term quality of life, work and daily activities among individuals testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 at a national retail pharmacy

Manuela Di Fusco et al. J Patient Rep Outcomes. .

Abstract

Background: Evidence on long COVID symptom clustering patterns among patients with COVID-19 is limited. We summarized long COVID symptoms in clusters defined by number of symptoms co-occurring together, and we assessed Health-Related Quality of Life (HQRoL), Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) outcomes across these clusters over time. We assessed associations between the clusters and BNT162b2 vaccination status.

Methods: A prospective longitudinal patient-reported outcomes (PRO) study recruited laboratory-confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 patients seeking testing from a national retail pharmacy. Long COVID-19 symptoms were self-reported by participants at 4-week, 3-month and 6-month surveys. Patient classes identified via latent class analysis (LCA) with long COVID-19 symptoms were simplified into clusters based on number of symptoms. HRQoL and WPAI outcomes were collected using EQ-ED-5L and WPAI: GH questionnaires. Mixed models for repeated measures analyses were conducted to examine associations between exposure groups and outcomes.

Results: The study included 328 participants that were segmented into three groups of long COVID-19 symptoms based on LCA and then simplified by the number of symptoms (Cluster 1 low, <2; Cluster 2 moderate, 2-6; and Cluster 3 high, >6 symptoms). The number of long COVID-19 symptoms was negatively associated with HRQoL and WPAI, whereby participants with high symptom burden (>6 symptoms) had the lowest HRQoL and WPAI scores assessed by absenteeism, presenteeism, work productivity loss, activity impairment, and hours worked metrics. Compared with those unvaccinated and not up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccination, subjects boosted with BNT162b2 consistently reported less symptom burden during the follow-up, regardless of their symptom-based cluster.

Conclusion: Three distinct patient clusters based on frequency of long COVID symptoms experienced different HRQoL and WPAI outcomes over 6 months. The cluster with more concomitant symptoms experienced greater burden than the others. Participants up-to-date with BNT162b2 reported lower symptom burden across all clusters and timeframes.

Clinical trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT05160636.

Keywords: BNT162b2; COVID-19; HRQoL; Humanistic; Quality of life; SARS-CoV-2; WPAI; long-COVID-19 symptoms.

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Conflict of interest statement

MDC, AY, MBA, KEA, TMP, LP, SMCL, and JCC are employed by Pfizer® Inc. and hold stock or stock options of Pfizer. XS and KJTC are employed by CVS Health® Corporation and hold stock and receive equity from CVS Health, which received funding from Pfizer in connection with the development of this manuscript.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Health-related Quality of Life (HQRoL) and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) outcomes by symptom cluster and time point
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Associations between BNT162b2 vaccination status and symptom-based cluster, by time point
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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