UMMS Affiliation
Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences
Publication Date
2021-03-26
Document Type
Article Preprint
Disciplines
Health Information Technology | Immunology and Infectious Disease | Infectious Disease | Translational Medical Research | Virus Diseases
Abstract
Since late 2019, the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has introduced a wide array of health challenges globally. In addition to a complex acute presentation that can affect multiple organ systems, increasing evidence points to long-term sequelae being common and impactful. The worldwide scientific community is forging ahead to characterize a wide range of outcomes associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection; however the underlying assumptions in these studies have varied so widely that the resulting data are difficult to compare. Formal definitions are needed in order to design robust and consistent studies of Long COVID that consistently capture variation in long-term outcomes. Even the condition itself goes by three terms, most widely "Long COVID", but also "COVID-19 syndrome (PACS)" or, "post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC)". In the present study, we investigate the definitions used in the literature published to date and compare them against data available from electronic health records and patient-reported information collected via surveys. Long COVID holds the potential to produce a second public health crisis on the heels of the pandemic itself. Proactive efforts to identify the characteristics of this heterogeneous condition are imperative for a rigorous scientific effort to investigate and mitigate this threat.
Keywords
COVID-19, Long COVID, COVID-19 syndrome (PACS), post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), definitions, UMCCTS funding
Rights and Permissions
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
DOI of Published Version
10.1101/2021.03.20.21253896
Source
Rando HM, Bennett TD, Byrd JB, Bramante C, Callahan TJ, Chute CG, Davis HE, Deer R, Gagnier J, Koraishy FM, Liu F, McMurry JA, Moffitt RA, Pfaff ER, Reese JT, Relevo R, Robinson PN, Saltz JH, Solomonides A, Sule A, Topaloglu U, Haendel MA. Challenges in defining Long COVID: Striking differences across literature, Electronic Health Records, and patient-reported information. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2021 Mar 26:2021.03.20.21253896. doi: 10.1101/2021.03.20.21253896. PMID: 33791733; PMCID: PMC8010765. Link to preprint on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences
Related Resources
PubMed ID
33791733
Repository Citation
Rando HM, Liu F, Haendel MA. (2021). Challenges in defining Long COVID: Striking differences across literature, Electronic Health Records, and patient-reported information. UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science Supported Publications. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.20.21253896. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/umccts_pubs/238
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Health Information Technology Commons, Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons, Infectious Disease Commons, Translational Medical Research Commons, Virus Diseases Commons
Comments
This article is a preprint. Preprints are preliminary reports of work that have not been certified by peer review.
Full author list omitted for brevity. For the full list of authors, see article.