Long-term effects of COVID-19 over 50: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Lopez-Leon, S., Wegman-Ostrosky, T., Perelman, C. et al. More than 50 long-term effects of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. SCI Rep 11, 16144 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95565-8

Commentary

This study was intended to identify studies evaluating the long-term effects of COVID-19 through a systematic review and meta-analysis.

LitCOVID and Embase were searched to identify articles with original data published prior to January 1, 2021.

For effects reported in more than 100 included patients and in more than one study, a meta-analysis using a variational effects model was performed using MetaXL software to estimate the pooled prevalence with 95% CIs.

A total of 18,251 publications were identified, of which 15 met the selection criteria, 55 estimated the prevalence of long-term effects, 21 meta-analyses were performed, and 47,910 patients were included.

In these included studies, the long-term effects of COVID-19 were defined as ranging from 14 to 110 days after viral infection. 80% of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 were estimated to have developed one or more long-term symptoms, with the five most common symptoms being

Malaise (58%)

Headache (44%)

Attention deficit (27%)

Hair loss (25%)

Dyspnea (24%)

were identified.