• Justin R Kingery, Monika M Safford, Paul Martin, Jennifer D Lau, Mangala Rajan, Graham T Wehmeyer, Han A Li, Mark N Alshak, Assem Jabri, Alina Kofman, Christopher S Babu, Elizabeth K Benitez, Federico Palacardo, Indrani Guzman Das, Kiara Kaylor, Kwang M Woo, Nicholas L Roberts, Saher Rahiel, Varshini Gali, Lynn Han, Joyce Lee, Natalia Roszkowska, Yeo Eun Kim, Sufia Bakshi, Cameron Hogan, Margaret McNairy, Laura C Pinheiro, and Parag Goyal.
• Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 402 E. 67th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10065, USA. jrk9006@med.cornell.edu.
• J Gen Intern Med. 2022 Apr 1; 37 (5): 121812251218-1225.

BackgroundThe long-term prevalence and risk factors for post-acute COVID-19 sequelae (PASC) are not well described and may have important implications for unvaccinated populations and policy makers.ObjectiveTo assess health status, persistent symptoms, and effort tolerance approximately 1 year after COVID-19 infection DESIGN: Retrospective observational cohort study using surveys and clinical data PARTICIPANTS: Survey respondents who were survivors of acute COVID-19 infection requiring Emergency Department presentation or hospitalization between March 3 and May 15, 2020.Main Measure(S)Self-reported health status, persistent symptoms, and effort tolerance KEY RESULTS: The 530 respondents (median time between hospital presentation and survey 332 days [IQR 325-344]) had mean age 59.2±16.3 years, 44.5% were female and 70.8% were non-White. Of these, 41.5% reported worse health compared to a year prior, 44.2% reported persistent symptoms, 36.2% reported limitations in lifting/carrying groceries, 35.5% reported limitations climbing one flight of stairs, 38.1% reported limitations bending/kneeling/stooping, and 22.1% reported limitations walking one block. Even those without high-risk comorbid conditions and those seen only in the Emergency Department (but not hospitalized) experienced significant deterioration in health, persistent symptoms, and limitations in effort tolerance. Women (adjusted relative risk ratio [aRRR] 1.26, 95% CI 1.01-1.56), those requiring mechanical ventilation (aRRR 1.48, 1.02-2.14), and people with HIV (aRRR 1.75, 1.14-2.69) were significantly more likely to report persistent symptoms. Age and other risk factors for more severe COVID-19 illness were not associated with increased risk of PASC.ConclusionsPASC may be extraordinarily common 1 year after COVID-19, and these symptoms are sufficiently severe to impact the daily exercise tolerance of patients. PASC symptoms are broadly distributed, are not limited to one specific patient group, and appear to be unrelated to age. These data have implications for vaccine hesitant individuals, policy makers, and physicians managing the emerging longer-term yet unknown impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.© 2022. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Society of General Internal Medicine.

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