Long COVID in a prospective cohort of home-isolated patients

Long-term complications after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are common in hospitalized patients, but the spectrum of symptoms in milder cases needs further investigation. We conducted a long-term follow-up in a prospective cohort study of 312 patients--247 home-isolated and 65 hospitalized--comprising 82% of total cases in Bergen during the first pandemic wave in Norway. At 6 months, 61% (189/312) of all patients had persistent symptoms, which were independently associated with severity of initial illness, increased convalescent antibody titers and pre-existing chronic lung disease. We found that 52% (32/61) of home-isolated young adults, aged 16-30 years, had symptoms at 6 months, including loss of taste and/or smell (28%, 17/61), fatigue (21%, 13/61), dyspnea (13%, 8/61), impaired concentration (13%, 8/61) and memory problems (11%, 7/61). Our findings that young, home-isolated adults with mild COVID-19 are at risk of long-lasting dyspnea and cognitive symptoms highlight the importance of infection control measures, such as vaccination. Analysis of a prospectively enrolled cohort of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infections in Bergen, Norway, reveals a high proportion of patients who experienced long COVID symptoms at 6 months, despite being relatively young and having only mild to moderate acute COVID-19 symptoms.
Author(s): Bjørn Blomberg [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.3] , Kristin Greve-Isdahl Mohn [sup.3] [sup.4] , Karl Albert Brokstad [sup.5] [sup.6] , Fan Zhou [sup.4] , Dagrun Waag Linchausen [sup.7] , Bent-Are Hansen [...]