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. 2025 Sep 3;25(1):1099.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-025-11360-0.

Post-COVID syndrome in symptomatic COVID-19 patients: a retrospective cohort study

Nhu Ngoc Nguyen  1   2 , Hervé Tissot-Dupont  1   3 , Philippe Brouqui  1   3 , Philippe Gautret  4   5   6
Affiliations

Post-COVID syndrome in symptomatic COVID-19 patients: a retrospective cohort study

Nhu Ngoc Nguyen et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Although post-COVID symptoms have been documented in the literature, the risk factors and time required for full recovery remain unclear. We conducted a retrospective analysis of medical records of COVID-19 patients to investigate the prevalence of symptoms after an acute episode of COVID-19 and the risk factors for persistence of symptoms.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study analysis examined hospital records of post-COVID individuals with previously confirmed or probable SARS-CoV-2 infection and endurring symptom continuation for at least 3 months post-infection or presenting new symptoms persisting for at least 2 months. Follow-up was conducted during at least six months to access longer-term outcomes. The majority of patients received specialized examination and at least two medical examinations. Descriptive and logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the prevalence and risk factors for post-COVID syndrom.

Result: The mean age of the 319 patients was 47.74 ± 11.61 years, and 225 (70.1%) were female. Of the 250/319 patients for whom information on acute infection was available; fever (60.8%), smell disorder (60.8%), asthenia (60.4%) and headache (59.2%) were the most frequent symptoms. The most frequent persisting symptoms were neurological (84.6%), asthenia (80.9%) and cardiac-respiratory symptoms (67.4%). About 80-81% patients reported symptom improvement at six to twelve months of follow-up. Being male and having fever or taste disorders during the acute phase of COVID-19 were independent risk factors for the persistence of long COVID symptoms.

Conclusion: These results could possibly serve to identify patients at a higher risk for the persistence of long COVID symptoms and target them for reinforced therapeutic measures.

Keywords: COVID-19; Long COVID; Post-COVID; Recovery; Risk factors; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: As a research using anonymised existing health data without any direct intervention on the participants [21], the study was approved by the Ethics and Scientific Committee of the AP-HM (No. CSE24-4), declared to the French General Data Protection Regulation registry (No. PADS24-1) and was carried out in accordance with good clinical practices recommended by the Declaration of Helsinki and its amendments. Due to the retrospective nature of the study based on medical files related to routine care, the need for consent to participate was deemed unnecessary according to national regulations (article R.1121-1, French Public Heath Regulation). Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of the patients included in the study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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