LC Definitions
What?
We will characterise how long COVID presents in people recovering from COVID-19, looking particularly for whether there are groups of symptoms that appear commonly in some patients.
Why?
Long COVID is an emerging new condition, which means that we don’t yet know much about what symptoms and diagnoses people have, how frequently they occur, and whether there are groups of symptoms and diagnoses that occur in the same patients. Systematically describing these things will allow clinicians to more effectively diagnose and treat patients with long COVID, as well as enable further research into the prevalence, risk factors and outcomes of these patients.
How?
We will use structured and free text data within routinely gathered electronic health record data, alongside questionnaires from population cohort members who self-identify with long COVID, to measure the frequency and clustering of long COVID symptoms and diagnoses.
Findings
Characterising patterns of COVID-19 and long COVID symptoms: Evidence from nine UK longitudinal studies
Ruth C. E. Bowyer, Charlotte Huggins, Renin Toms, Richard J. Shaw, Bo Hou, Ellen J. Thompson, Alex Kwong,, Dylan Williams, Milla Kibble, George B. Ploubidis, Nic Timpson, Jonathan A. C. Sterne, Nish Chaturvedi, Claire J. Steves, Kate Tilling, Richard J. Silverwood the CONVALESCENCE Study full text