• Rebecca R Taylor, Bhavi Trivedi, Neena Patel, Richa Singh, William M Ricketts, Katharine Elliott, Marcus Yarwood, Veronica White, Hannah Hylton, Ruth Allen, Gavin Thomas, Vikas Kapil, Rachel McGuckin, and Paul E Pfeffer.
• Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK.
• Clin Med (Lond). 2021 Jul 1; 21 (4): e384e391e384-e391.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has strained healthcare systems and how best to address post-COVID health needs is uncertain. Here we describe the post-COVID symptoms of 675 patients followed up using a virtual review pathway, stratified by severity of acute COVID infection.MethodsCOVID-19 survivors completed an online/telephone questionnaire of symptoms after 12+ weeks and a chest X-ray. Dependent on findings at virtual review, patients were provided information leaflets, attended for investigations and/or were reviewed face-to-face. Outcomes were compared between patients following high-risk and low-risk admissions for COVID pneumonia, and community referrals.ResultsPatients reviewed after hospitalisation for COVID pneumonia had a median of two ongoing physical health symptoms post-COVID. The most common was fatigue (50.3% of high-risk patients). Symptom burden did not vary significantly by severity of hospitalised COVID pneumonia but was highest in community referrals. Symptoms suggestive of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder were common (depression occurred in 24.9% of high-risk patients). Asynchronous virtual review facilitated triage of patients at highest need of face-to-face review.ConclusionMany patients continue to have a significant burden of post-COVID symptoms irrespective of severity of initial pneumonia. How best to assess and manage long COVID will be of major importance over the next few years.© Royal College of Physicians 2021. All rights reserved.

This article appears in the collection: What is Long COVID?.

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