Health symptoms and post-COVID-19: Comparing symptomatic groups based on self-reported and primary care data.

<h4>Introduction</h4>Health symptoms are common in the general population. Relatively little research has focused on health symptoms in context of the COVID-19 pandemic between people with different manifestations of COVID-19. Aim of this study was to assess symptom differences between i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jenny Gerbecks, C Joris Yzermans, Michel L A Dückers, Mark Bosmans, Christos Baliatsas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323960
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849334450250317824
author Jenny Gerbecks
C Joris Yzermans
Michel L A Dückers
Mark Bosmans
Christos Baliatsas
author_facet Jenny Gerbecks
C Joris Yzermans
Michel L A Dückers
Mark Bosmans
Christos Baliatsas
author_sort Jenny Gerbecks
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Introduction</h4>Health symptoms are common in the general population. Relatively little research has focused on health symptoms in context of the COVID-19 pandemic between people with different manifestations of COVID-19. Aim of this study was to assess symptom differences between individuals suffering from post-COVID-19, individuals infected with COVID-19 but not suffering from lasting symptoms ('ex-covid'), and non-infected individuals.<h4>Methods</h4>A 2022 nation-wide cross-sectional health survey was combined with routine primary care data. The response rate for the survey was 32%. The questionnaire data consisted of 315,586 respondents, and the electronic health record (EHR) data included 29,797 patients with merged questionnaire data. Prevalence of individual symptoms and number, duration, and severity of symptoms were analyzed.<h4>Results</h4>Individuals with post-COVID-19 reported more (IRR 1.48 [CI 1.46-1.49]), longer lasting (1.92 [CI 1.88-1.96]), and more severe symptoms (2.00 [CI 1.96-2.05]) than the ex-covid group. Post-COVID-19 also reported more (1.55 [CI 1.52-1.57]), longer lasting (1.87 [CI 1.82-1.92]), and more severe symptoms (1.95 [CI 1.89-2.01]) compared to non-infected. Ex-covid reported more symptoms than the non-infected, but on average, their symptoms lasted a shorter duration and were experienced as less severe. In EHRs, symptoms between groups showed generally the same pattern.<h4>Conclusion & discussion</h4>This study points at variation in symptomatology after COVID-19 infection. Individuals with post-COVID-19 experienced more, longer-lasting, and more severe symptoms compared to the other two groups. This study was one of the first to assess group differences between groups with different types of COVID-19 infections.
format Article
id doaj-art-3022e05439494e7bbc576a53b2dff78c
institution Kabale University
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-3022e05439494e7bbc576a53b2dff78c2025-08-20T03:45:34ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01206e032396010.1371/journal.pone.0323960Health symptoms and post-COVID-19: Comparing symptomatic groups based on self-reported and primary care data.Jenny GerbecksC Joris YzermansMichel L A DückersMark BosmansChristos Baliatsas<h4>Introduction</h4>Health symptoms are common in the general population. Relatively little research has focused on health symptoms in context of the COVID-19 pandemic between people with different manifestations of COVID-19. Aim of this study was to assess symptom differences between individuals suffering from post-COVID-19, individuals infected with COVID-19 but not suffering from lasting symptoms ('ex-covid'), and non-infected individuals.<h4>Methods</h4>A 2022 nation-wide cross-sectional health survey was combined with routine primary care data. The response rate for the survey was 32%. The questionnaire data consisted of 315,586 respondents, and the electronic health record (EHR) data included 29,797 patients with merged questionnaire data. Prevalence of individual symptoms and number, duration, and severity of symptoms were analyzed.<h4>Results</h4>Individuals with post-COVID-19 reported more (IRR 1.48 [CI 1.46-1.49]), longer lasting (1.92 [CI 1.88-1.96]), and more severe symptoms (2.00 [CI 1.96-2.05]) than the ex-covid group. Post-COVID-19 also reported more (1.55 [CI 1.52-1.57]), longer lasting (1.87 [CI 1.82-1.92]), and more severe symptoms (1.95 [CI 1.89-2.01]) compared to non-infected. Ex-covid reported more symptoms than the non-infected, but on average, their symptoms lasted a shorter duration and were experienced as less severe. In EHRs, symptoms between groups showed generally the same pattern.<h4>Conclusion & discussion</h4>This study points at variation in symptomatology after COVID-19 infection. Individuals with post-COVID-19 experienced more, longer-lasting, and more severe symptoms compared to the other two groups. This study was one of the first to assess group differences between groups with different types of COVID-19 infections.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323960
spellingShingle Jenny Gerbecks
C Joris Yzermans
Michel L A Dückers
Mark Bosmans
Christos Baliatsas
Health symptoms and post-COVID-19: Comparing symptomatic groups based on self-reported and primary care data.
PLoS ONE
title Health symptoms and post-COVID-19: Comparing symptomatic groups based on self-reported and primary care data.
title_full Health symptoms and post-COVID-19: Comparing symptomatic groups based on self-reported and primary care data.
title_fullStr Health symptoms and post-COVID-19: Comparing symptomatic groups based on self-reported and primary care data.
title_full_unstemmed Health symptoms and post-COVID-19: Comparing symptomatic groups based on self-reported and primary care data.
title_short Health symptoms and post-COVID-19: Comparing symptomatic groups based on self-reported and primary care data.
title_sort health symptoms and post covid 19 comparing symptomatic groups based on self reported and primary care data
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323960
work_keys_str_mv AT jennygerbecks healthsymptomsandpostcovid19comparingsymptomaticgroupsbasedonselfreportedandprimarycaredata
AT cjorisyzermans healthsymptomsandpostcovid19comparingsymptomaticgroupsbasedonselfreportedandprimarycaredata
AT michelladuckers healthsymptomsandpostcovid19comparingsymptomaticgroupsbasedonselfreportedandprimarycaredata
AT markbosmans healthsymptomsandpostcovid19comparingsymptomaticgroupsbasedonselfreportedandprimarycaredata
AT christosbaliatsas healthsymptomsandpostcovid19comparingsymptomaticgroupsbasedonselfreportedandprimarycaredata