Long COVID Definitions and Models of Care : A Scoping Review

Definitions of long COVID are evolving, and optimal models of care are uncertain.

To perform a scoping review on definitions of long COVID and provide an overview of care models, including a proposed framework to describe and distinguish models.

English-language articles from Ovid MEDLINE, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, SocINDEX, Scopus, Embase, and CINAHL published between January 2021 and November 2023; gray literature; and discussions with 18 key informants.

Publications describing long COVID definitions or models of care, supplemented by models described by key informants.

Data were extracted by one reviewer and verified for accuracy by another reviewer.

Of 1960 screened citations, 38 were included. Five clinical definitions of long COVID varied with regard to timing since symptom onset and the minimum duration required for diagnosis; 1 additional definition was symptom score-based. Forty-nine long COVID care models were informed by 5 key principles: a core "lead" team, multidisciplinary expertise, comprehensive access to diagnostic and therapeutic services, a patient-centered approach, and providing capacity to meet demand. Seven characteristics provided a framework for distinguishing models: home department or clinical setting, clinical lead, collocation of other specialties, primary care role, population managed, use of teleservices, and whether the model was practice- or systems-based. Using this framework, 10 representative practice-based and 3 systems-based models of care were identified.

Published literature often lacked key model details, data were insufficient to assess model outcomes, and there was overlap between and variability within models.

Definitions of long COVID and care models are evolving. Research is needed to optimize models and evaluate outcomes of different models.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (Protocol posted at https://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/products/long-covid-models-care/protocol.).