The natural history of symptomatic COVID-19 during the first wave in Catalonia

Abstract

The natural history of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has yet to be fully described. Here, we use patient-level data from the Information System for Research in Primary Care (SIDIAP) to summarise COVID-19 outcomes in Catalonia, Spain. We included 5,586,521 individuals from the general population. Of these, 102,002 had an outpatient diagnosis of COVID-19, 16,901 were hospitalised with COVID-19, and 5273 died after either being diagnosed or hospitalised with COVID-19 between 1st March and 6th May 2020. Older age, being male, and having comorbidities were all generally associated with worse outcomes. These findings demonstrate the continued need to protect those at high risk of poor outcomes, particularly older people, from COVID-19 and provide appropriate care for those who develop symptomatic disease. While risks of hospitalisation and death were lower for younger populations, there is a need to limit their role in community transmission.

Associations of BNT162b2 vaccination with SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospital admission and death with covid-19 in nursing homes and healthcare workers in Catalonia: prospective cohort study

“…Information on professional roles for the included healthcare workers came from the workforce census of the Institut Catala de la Salut. Data from these databases have been previously validated and used for epidemiological research,101112 including many studies of covid-19 7131415…”

Symptoms, complications and management of long COVID: a review

“…1 The majority of people with COVID-19 experience mild-to-moderate illness, while approximately 10%-15% develop severe illness and 5% become critically ill. 2 The average recovery time from COVID-19 is 2-3 weeks depending on symptom severity. [3][4][5] However, 1 in 5 people, regardless of the severity of their acute infection, may exhibit symptoms for 5 weeks or more, while 1 in 10 may have symptoms lasting 12 weeks or more. 6 There is yet to be a consensus on the appropriate definitions for situations where COVID-19 symptoms persist beyond the acute phase of infection.…”

Basic mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 infection. What endocrine systems could be implicated?

“…It is now accepted that diabetes is an important risk factor for COVID-19 infection and the severity of disease [ 22 – 24 ]. A significant part of this risk condition can be attributed solely to hyperglycemia.…”