tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Front Public Health
. 2025 Mar 12:13:1513664.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1513664. eCollection 2025. Post-infection symptoms up to 24 months after COVID-19: a matched cohort study in Berlin, Germany
Anne Meierkord[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Daniel Schulze[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Maximilian Gertler[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Joachim Seybold[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Marcus A Mall[SUP] 5 6 7 [/SUP], Tobias Kurth[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Frank P Mockenhaupt[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 [/SUP], Stefanie Theuring[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Introduction: Long-term health consequences after mild COVID-19 are not well described. Our aim was to estimate their prevalence and describe the time course of signs and symptoms for a period of up to 24 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Methods: We conducted a cohort study matched for age, sex, and test week among individuals who had attended the public COVID-19 test center at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. In early 2022, 576 former COVID-19 patients (>95% non-hospitalized) and 302 uninfected individuals responded to a questionnaire on retrospective monthly symptoms since the test date up to 24 months ago.
Results: Symptoms compatible with long COVID were present in 42.9% (247/576) of former COVID-19 patients, compared with 21.2% (64/302) in the uninfected group. In former patients, unadjusted odds ratios (OR) were highest for disturbed taste/smell (OR 9.1 [95% CI: 4.0-21.1]), memory difficulties (OR 5.1 [95% CI: 2.9-8.9]), and shortness of breath at rest (OR 4.5 [95% CI: 1.9-10.6]). In most former COVID-19 patients, symptoms occurred in one coherent period and resolved after a median of 6.5 months, while taste/smell disturbance and neurological/cognitive symptoms showed longer times until recovery. Factors associated with long COVID-compatible symptoms included hospitalization, symptomatic COVID-19 infection, low household income and female sex.
Conclusion: Post-infection symptoms in mild COVID-19 patients mostly persist for about half a year, but sometimes longer. Among uninfected individuals who never experienced COVID-19, 21.2% also reported long COVID-compatible symptoms. The current long COVID definition might require revision to prevent misclassification and over-reporting, and to improve diagnosis and prevalence estimates.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; long COVID; post COVID-19 condition; post-acute sequel of COVID-19.
. 2025 Mar 12:13:1513664.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1513664. eCollection 2025. Post-infection symptoms up to 24 months after COVID-19: a matched cohort study in Berlin, Germany
Anne Meierkord[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Daniel Schulze[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Maximilian Gertler[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Joachim Seybold[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Marcus A Mall[SUP] 5 6 7 [/SUP], Tobias Kurth[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Frank P Mockenhaupt[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 [/SUP], Stefanie Theuring[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 40145003
- PMCID: PMC11937017
- DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1513664
Introduction: Long-term health consequences after mild COVID-19 are not well described. Our aim was to estimate their prevalence and describe the time course of signs and symptoms for a period of up to 24 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Methods: We conducted a cohort study matched for age, sex, and test week among individuals who had attended the public COVID-19 test center at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. In early 2022, 576 former COVID-19 patients (>95% non-hospitalized) and 302 uninfected individuals responded to a questionnaire on retrospective monthly symptoms since the test date up to 24 months ago.
Results: Symptoms compatible with long COVID were present in 42.9% (247/576) of former COVID-19 patients, compared with 21.2% (64/302) in the uninfected group. In former patients, unadjusted odds ratios (OR) were highest for disturbed taste/smell (OR 9.1 [95% CI: 4.0-21.1]), memory difficulties (OR 5.1 [95% CI: 2.9-8.9]), and shortness of breath at rest (OR 4.5 [95% CI: 1.9-10.6]). In most former COVID-19 patients, symptoms occurred in one coherent period and resolved after a median of 6.5 months, while taste/smell disturbance and neurological/cognitive symptoms showed longer times until recovery. Factors associated with long COVID-compatible symptoms included hospitalization, symptomatic COVID-19 infection, low household income and female sex.
Conclusion: Post-infection symptoms in mild COVID-19 patients mostly persist for about half a year, but sometimes longer. Among uninfected individuals who never experienced COVID-19, 21.2% also reported long COVID-compatible symptoms. The current long COVID definition might require revision to prevent misclassification and over-reporting, and to improve diagnosis and prevalence estimates.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; long COVID; post COVID-19 condition; post-acute sequel of COVID-19.