Long-Term Symptoms after Mild Coronavirus Disease in Healthy Healthcare Professionals: A 12-Month Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has changed the course of human history and killed millions of people worldwide. Its long-term consequences remain uncertain. This study aimed to describe the short- and long-term symptoms of COVID-19 among individuals in Goiás, central Brazil, who experienced acute mild or non-symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection during the first wave of the pandemic. This prospective cohort study included 110 healthcare workers, 18 safety workers, and 19 administrative support workers, who were followed up for 12 months after the onset of COVID-19. Most participants were healthy adult female healthcare professionals. At the onset of infection, the major symptoms were headache, myalgia, nasal congestion, cough, coryza, anosmia, ageusia, sore throat, fatigue, diarrhea, and dyspnea. Furthermore, 20.3% of the participants had three or more COVID-19 symptoms that persisted for at least 12 months. These included coryza, congestion, hair loss, sore throat, headache, myalgia, cough, memory loss, anosmia, and fatigue. This study revealed a high prevalence of persistent symptoms of COVID-19 in healthy individuals from central Brazil, which may present an additional burden on healthcare services. Further studies are required to investigate the sequelae of COVID-19 over periods greater than 12 months.

Illness Experiences of Brazilian People Who Were Hospitalized Due to COVID-19 and Faced Long COVID Repercussions in Their Daily Life: A Constructivist Grounded Theory Study

“…Surviving acute COVID-19 affected the experience of living with long COVID's intermittent symptoms, generating a feeling of false recovery. Although intermittent post-COVID symptoms are present in all clinical forms of COVID-19, the frequency is higher in those with moderate and severe forms [60], which justifies the representativeness of this subcategory in our study. Long COVID as a chronic condition leads to uncertainty about the future, causing the subject to mobilize resources in search of self-recovery, in an attempt to escape the sick role due to the stigma associated with long COVID and reinforce their identity [27,61].…”

A Systematic Review of the Prevalence of Persistent Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Incidence of New Gastrointestinal Illness after Acute SARS-CoV-2 Infection

“…The studies were conducted from early 2020 to mid-2023 in twenty-eight different countries across Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia ( Table 2 and Table 3 ). Forty-one studies were sourced from peer-review journals [ 8 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. Four studies were pre-print and were awaiting peer review at the time of writing [ 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 ].…”

“…Studies varied in how they defined COVID-19 cases. Twenty-eight studies included only participants with a positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test (RT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 [ 32 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 57 , 58 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 65 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 71 , 72 , 73 ]. Seven studies included participants who tested positive via an unspecified diagnostic method [ 30 , 33 , 56 , 59 , 64 , 66 , 70 ].…”

“…The studies also varied in their clinical settings and ascertainment of gastrointestinal symptoms. Fourteen studies were conducted on patients who were hospitalised with COVID-19, discharged and followed up in the community [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 57 , 60 , 62 , 63 , 67 , 71 ], twenty-one studies involved both hospitalised and community-managed cases [ 8 , 30 , 32 , 36 , 37 , 40 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 55 , 59 , 61 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 72 ], seven studies involved community cases that did not require hospital admission [ 38 , 39 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 56 , 58 ] and three studies did not specify the setting of recruitment [ 31 , 54 , 73 ].…”

“…Most studies ( n = 27) measured gastrointestinal outcomes using a survey or questionnaire administered via telephone or electronically [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 61 , 63 , 65 , 70 , 71 ]. Seven studies used EHRs to identify gastrointestinal endpoints based on clinical codes [ 8 , 60 , 66 , 67 , 69 , 72 , 73 ].…”