Symptomatic Trends and Time to Recovery for Long COVID Patients Infected During the Omicron Phase

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Public Health
• Internal Medicine

Background:

• Long COVID pathophysiology remains unclear, necessitating symptom-based management.
• Persistent symptoms after COVID-19 infection can last months, with unpredictable duration.
• Understanding factors influencing long COVID persistence is crucial for patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate clinical differences between early and persistent long COVID cases.
• To identify predictors of long-term symptom duration after COVID-19 infection.
• To explore gender-specific characteristics in long COVID patients.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 774 patients with long COVID symptoms.
• Classification into early recovery (ER) and persistent symptom (PS) groups based on symptom duration (>180 days).
• Comparison of demographic, clinical, and symptom profiles between ER and PS groups.

Main Results:

• The persistent symptom group had a higher proportion of female patients (59.4% vs. 47.3%).
• Female patients in the PS group reported more fatigue, insomnia, memory issues, and paresthesia.
• Patients with over three initial symptoms were more common in the PS group, with higher fatigue and depression scores.

Conclusions:

• Long COVID duration is associated with the number of initial symptoms.
• Gender-specific symptom patterns and higher symptom burden correlate with persistent long COVID.
• These findings highlight gender-dependent differences in long COVID trajectories.