They didn't have any COVID-19 symptoms, but suffered post-COVID conditions

Do “asymptomatic” people also suffer from post-COVID conditions? A new study gives a data-driven answer: Yes.

In the largest known study based on the population of COVID patients, researchers stated that post-COVID conditions can last for months — even nine months — and may be experienced by 10% to 30% of COVID-19 patients.

The conditions — dyspnea, fatigue/muscular weakness and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), reduction in health-related quality of life scores, pulmonary function abnormalities and radiographic abnormalities — are also found in a “substantial” percentage of patients whose cases initially lacked symptoms — asymptomatic.

Researchers point out that such studies provide early evidence to aid the identification of people at high risk for post-acute COVID-19. The severity of illness during acute COVID-19 (ICU admission and/or requirement for non-invasive and/or invasive mechanical ventilation) has been significantly associated with the presence or persistence of symptoms. We break down it down for you:

The FAIR Health white paper focussed on the prevalence of acute post-COVID conditions of patients 30 days or more after their initial diagnosis with COVID-19.

It used big data analytics — “longitudinal” records — from a database of over 34 billion private healthcare claim records. Specifically, it analysed patients who exhibited "persistent or new symptoms" — more than four weeks after first being diagnosed. Patients with such post-COVID conditions are also referred to as having “long-haul COVID”, “long COVID” or “post-acute sequelae of COVID-19” (PASC).

FAIR Health, the largest repository of private claims data in the US, conducted and released the study. The group regularly publishes white papers based on massive patient data.

Using longitudinal data from a database of over 34 billion private healthcare claim records, FAIR Health studied a total of 1,959,982 COVID-19 patients for the prevalence of post-COVID conditions 30 days or more after their initial diagnosis with COVID-19.

The study tracked the health insurance records of people who contracted the coronavirus in 2020. It found that 30 days or more after their infection, nearly one out of four — 23% — of them sought medical treatment for new conditions.

The white paper states the following:

No. The ranking of the most common post-COVID conditions varied by age group. For example:

Four mental health conditions were evaluated as post-COVID conditions. The mental health conditions associated with the highest percentage of patients after COVID-19 in all age groups are:

Thirty (30) days or more after initial diagnosis with COVID-19, the odds of death were 46 times higher for patients who were hospitalised with COVID-19 and discharged than patients who had not been hospitalised, the the study said. Of COVID-19 patients who were hospitalised and discharged, 0.5% died 30 days or more after their initial diagnosis.

The odds of death were highest — more than 3 times — among those with intellectual disabilities were associated COVID 30 days or more after initial diagnosis.

Among the most common “complications” observed by doctors based on the FAIR Health data:

The FAIR Health study results reflect multinational clinical studies conducted in Italy, UK, France, US, Spain and China focussing on the condition known as “post-acute COVID-19 syndrome”. Nine teams conducted studies on 3,398 patients over six months post the onset of symptoms, results of which were published in the journal Nature in March 2021.

Observational cohort studies in the US (38 hospitals), Europe (Italy, Spain and the UK) and China (Wuhan)  evaluated the outcomes of nearly 4,000 recovered patients.

The US study utilised medical records and telephone surveys (referred to as the “post-acute COVID-19 US study). Of 488 patients included in this study, 6.7% of patients died during the study period; 15.1% of patients required re-admission (within 60 post hospital discharge). Key findings:

European study

In the European study (608 individuals who survived COVID-19 in Italy, the UK, France and Spain), reported similar findings: Fatigue, dyspnea and psychological distress, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression and concentration and sleep abnormalities — noted in approximately 30% or more study participants at the time of follow-up (8 too 12 weeks after 8 to 14 after disease one and up to 8 weeks post-hospital discharge.

China study

Another cohort study from Wuhan, China, tracked long-term consequences of acute COVID-19 via in-person evaluation of 1,733 patients 6 months from symptom onset. The Wuhan study (via survey questionnaires, physical examination, 6-minute walk tests and blood tests and pulmonary function tests, high-resolution computed tomography of the chest and ultrasonography to evaluate post-acute COVID-19 end organ injury.) A majority of the patients (76%) reported at least one symptom. Following are the conditions in the post-acute COVID cases:

Source: Nature [https://go.nature.com/3gJ1g80]