Long-term sequelae of different COVID-19 variants: The original strain versus the Omicron variant.

Although Omicron appears to cause less severe acute illness than the original strain, the potential for large numbers of patients to experience long COVID is a major concern. Little is known about the recovery phase in cases of Omicron, highlighting the importance of dynamically monitor long COVID in those patients. Subjects of the current study were patients available for a three-month follow-up who were admitted from January 13 to May 22, 2020 (period of the original strain) and from January 1 to May 30, 2022 (period of Omicron). Twenty-eight-point-four percent of patients infected with the original strain had long-term symptoms of COVID-19 and 5.63% of those infected with the Omicron strain had such symptoms. The most common symptom was a cough (18.5%), followed by tightness in the chest (6.5%), in patients infected with the original strain. Fatigue (2.4%) and dyspnea (1.7%) were the most commonly reported symptoms in patients infected with the Omicron strain. The respiratory system is the primary target of SARSCoV-2. Supportive treatment is the basis for the treatment of respiratory symptoms in patients with COVID-19. Quality sleep and good nutrition may alleviate fatigue and mental issues. Further knowledge about a long-term syndrome due to Omicron needs to be discussed and assembled so that healthcare and workforce planners can rapidly obtain information to appropriately allocate resources.

Healthy outcomes of patients with COVID-19 two years after the infection: a prospective cohort study.

The long-term effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been rarely known. This study aimed to investigate healthy outcomes of COVID-19 survivors up to 2 years after the infection. A total of 155 COVID-19 patients, who were discharged from Shenzhen Third People's Hospital from February 2020 to April 2020, were enrolled and followed up until March 4, 2022. COVID-19 survivors received questionnaires of long COVID symptoms and psychological symptoms, pulmonary function tests, chest computed tomography (CT) scans and routine laboratory tests. Two years after infection, 36.6% of patients had at least one symptom of long COVID. Vision impairment and fatigue were the most common symptom. 35.0% of participants still had at least one psychological symptom of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and sleep difficulties. Radiographic abnormalities were presented in 50.7% of patients, with the most common features of fibrosis-like lesions and residual ground-glass opacity. Diffuse dysfunction (24.0%) was the main abnormalities of pulmonary function tests. Most laboratory parameters returned to normal range, while persistent abnormalities in kidney and liver function test were observed in a subset of participants after discharge. Two years after COVID-19 infection, persistent symptoms of long COVID and psychological symptoms, as well as abnormalities in pulmonary function tests and CT, were still common in a subset of recovering individuals. These findings were limited by the lack of a healthy control group and pre-COVID assessments, which should be confirmed by further large-scale studies.

Clinical status of patients 1 year after hospital discharge following recovery from COVID-19: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The long-term clinical status of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in recovered patients remains largely unknown. This prospective cohort study evaluated clinical status of COVID-19 and explored the associated risk factors. METHODS: At the outpatient visit, patients underwent routine blood tests, physical examinations, pulmonary function tests, 6-min walk test, high-resolution computed tomography (CT) of the chest, and extrapulmonary organ function tests. RESULTS: 230 patients were analyzed. Half (52.7%) reported at least one symptom, most commonly fatigue (20.3%) and sleep difficulties (15.8%). Anxiety (8.2%), depression (11.3%), post-traumatic symptoms (10.3%), and sleep disorders (26.3%) were also reported. Diffusion impairments were found in 35.4% of the patients. Abnormal chest CT scans were present in 63.5% of the patients, mainly reticulation and ground-glass opacities. Further, a persistent decline in kidney function was observed after discharge. SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies of IgA, IgG, and IgM were positive in 56.4%, 96.3%, and 15.2% of patients, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression showed that disease severity, age, and sex were closely related to patient recovery. CONCLUSIONS: One year after hospital discharge, patients recovered from COVID-19 continued to experience both pulmonary and extrapulmonary dysfunction. While paying attention to pulmonary manifestations of COVID-19, follow-up studies on extrapulmonary manifestations should be strengthened.