• Jade Ghosn, Lionel Piroth, Olivier Epaulard, Paul Le Turnier, France Mentré, Delphine Bachelet, Cédric Laouénan, and French COVID cohort study and investigators groups.
• Université de Paris, INSERM, IAME UMR 1137, Paris, France; Infectious and Tropical Diseases Department, AP-HP, Hôpital Bichat, Paris, France.
• Clin. Microbiol. Infect. 2021 Jul 1; 27 (7): 1041.e1-1041.e4.

ObjectivesPersistent COVID-19 symptoms have been reported up to 3 months after hospital discharge. Little is known on the frequency and the nature of persistent symptoms beyond 3 months. Here we have assessed, in the longitudinal prospective French COVID-19 cohort, symptoms that persisted 6 months after admission for COVID-19.MethodsHospitalized patients with virologically confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled. Follow-up was planned with a physician's visit at month (M)3 and M6 after admission. Associations between persistence of symptoms at M6 and clinical characteristics at admission were assessed through bivariate and multivariate logistic regression.ResultsM6 data were available for 1137 participants. Median age was 61 years (IQR 51-71) and 288 (29%, 95% CI 26-32%) were admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) during the acute phase. Six hundred and fifty-five (68%, 95% CI 65-71%) and 639 (60%, 95% CI 57-63%) participants had at least one symptom at M3 and M6 visit, respectively, mostly fatigue, dyspnoea, joint pain and myalgia. At M6, 255 (24%, 95% CI 21-27%) of participants had three or more persistent symptoms. The presence of three or more symptoms at M6 was independently associated with female gender (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.40, 95% CI 1.75-3.30), having three or more symptoms at admission (aOR 2.04, 95% CI 1.45-2.89) and ICU admission/transfer during acute phase (aOR 1.55, 95% CI 1.09-2.18), but not significantly with age or having two or more comorbidities. One hundred and twenty-five (29%, 95% CI 25-34%) of those who initially had a professional occupation were not back to work at M6.DiscussionA fourth of individuals admitted to hospital for COVID-19 still had three or more persistent symptoms at M6. Longitudinal follow-up of individuals with severe COVID-19 is warranted to better understand the pathophysiology underlying this long-term persistence.Copyright © 2021 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

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