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. 2024 Oct 25:15:1482917.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1482917. eCollection 2024.

Overlapping conditions in Long COVID at a multisite academic center

Stephanie L Grach #  1 , Daniel V Dudenkov #  2 , Beth Pollack #  3 , DeLisa Fairweather #  2   4   5   6 , Chris A Aakre  1 , Bala Munipalli  2 , Ivana T Croghan  1   7 , Michael R Mueller  1 , Joshua D Overgaard  1 , Katelyn A Bruno  2   8 , Nerissa M Collins  1 , Zhuo Li  9 , Ryan T Hurt  1 , Michal C Tal  3   10 , Ravindra Ganesh  1 , Dacre T R Knight  2
Affiliations

Overlapping conditions in Long COVID at a multisite academic center

Stephanie L Grach et al. Front Neurol. .

Abstract

Background: Many patients experience persistent symptoms after COVID-19, a syndrome referred to as Long COVID (LC). The goal of this study was to identify novel new or worsening comorbidities self-reported in patients with LC.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with LC (n = 732) at the Mayo Long COVID Care Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and Jacksonville, Florida were sent questionnaires to assess the development of new or worsening comorbidities following COVID-19 compared to patients with SARS-CoV-2 that did not develop LC (controls). Both groups were also asked questions screening for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), generalized joint hypermobility (GJH) and orthostatic intolerance. 247 people with LC (33.7%) and 40 controls (50%) responded to the surveys.

Results: In this study LC patients averaged 53 years of age and were predominantly White (95%) women (75%). The greatest prevalence of new or worsening comorbidities following SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with LC vs. controls reported in this study were pain (94.4% vs. 0%, p < 0.001), neurological (92.4% vs. 15.4%, p < 0.001), sleep (82.8% vs. 5.3%, p < 0.001), skin (69.8% vs. 0%, p < 0.001), and genitourinary (60.6% vs. 25.0%, p = 0.029) issues. 58% of LC patients screened positive for ME/CFS vs. 0% of controls (p < 0.001), 27% positive for GJH compared to 10% of controls (p = 0.026), and a positive average score of 4.0 on orthostatic intolerance vs. 0 (p < 0.001). The majority of LC patients with ME/CFS were women (77%).

Conclusion: We found that comorbidities across 12 surveyed categories were increased in patients following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our data also support the overlap of LC with ME/CFS, GJH, and orthostatic intolerance. We discuss the pathophysiologic, research, and clinical implications of identifying these conditions with LC.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; generalized joint hypermobility; hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome; mast cells; myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome; orthostatic intolerance; pain; virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

RTH is a consultant for Nestle Nutrition. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

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