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In another new study to quantify the clinical features of long COVID, or post COVID condition (PCC), authors publishing in PLoS One describe the key clinical features noted in the UK general-practice setting.

Using information about symptoms recorded in primary care consultation notes, the study authors reviewed the health records of those diagnosed by a general practitioner (GP) in England during the first year of the pandemic.

Authors compared symptoms among patients following confirmed COVID-19 to produce a list of 89 symptoms and the 30 most common symptoms. The goal was to define the basis on which GPs were suspecting or diagnosing PCC.

Fatigue, shortness of breath common

Symptoms recorded from a total of 11,015 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 15,841 suspected COVID-19 cases, 15,846 possibly exposed patients (with a viral or respiratory illness), and 18,098 unexposed controls were included in the study.

We found that increasing age, female sex, and severity of acute COVID-19 were associated with developing Long Covid.

The authors wrote that the symptoms with the strongest associations with PCC were fatigue (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 3.46; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.87 to 4.17), shortness of breath (aHR 2.89; 95% CI, 2.48 to 3.36), palpitations (aHR 2.59; 95% CI, 1.86 to 3.60), and phlegm (aHR 2.43; 95% CI, 1.65 to 3.59).

“Consistent with prior literature, we found that increasing age, female sex, and severity of acute COVID-19 were associated with developing Long Covid,” the authors said.