Risk of new-onset Long Covid following reinfection with SARS-CoV-2: community-based cohort study
Risk of new-onset Long Covid following reinfection with SARS-CoV-2: community-based cohort study
Background: little is known about the risk of Long Covid following reinfection with SARS-CoV-2. We estimated the likelihood of new-onset, self-reported Long Covid after a second SARS-CoV-2 infection, and compared to a first infection.
Methods: we included UK COVID-19 Infection Survey participants who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between 1 November 2021 and 8 October 2022. The primary outcome was self-reported Long Covid 12 to 20 weeks after each infection. Separate analyses were performed for those <16 years and ≥16 years. We estimated adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for new-onset Long Covid using logistic regression, comparing second to first infections, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and calendar date of infection, plus vaccination status in those ≥16 years.
Results: overall, Long Covid was reported by those ≥16 years after 4.0% and 2.4% of first and second infections, respectively; the corresponding estimates among those <16 years were 1.0% and 0.6%. The aOR for Long Covid after second compared to first infections was 0.72 (95% confidence interval: 0.63–0.81) for those ≥16 years and 0.93 (0.57–1.53) for those <16 years.
Conclusions: the risk of new-onset Long Covid after a second SARS-CoV-2 infection is lower than that after a first infection for those ≥16 years, though there is no evidence of a difference in risk for those <16 years. However, there remains some risk of new-onset Long Covid after a second infection, with around 1 in 40 of those ≥16 years and 1 in 165 of those <16 years reporting Long Covid after a second infection.
COVID-19, coronavirus, long COVID, post-COVID condition, reinfection
Bosworth, Matthew L.
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Shenhuy, Boran
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Walker, A. Sarah
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Nafilyan, Vahé
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Alwan, Nisreen A.
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O'Hara, Margaret E.
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Ayoubkhani, Daniel
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1 November 2023
Bosworth, Matthew L.
05d73c95-7103-4d63-9764-c2dba76f0c22
Shenhuy, Boran
9bdd13c1-3499-4dca-a28b-466d56a4de70
Walker, A. Sarah
bb9ef595-a16f-4456-9b09-31426d564665
Nafilyan, Vahé
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Alwan, Nisreen A.
0d37b320-f325-4ed3-ba51-0fe2866d5382
O'Hara, Margaret E.
afdd0e4e-d8dd-4720-afc4-d5d195874807
Ayoubkhani, Daniel
cfd1b0e2-6685-4edb-a53f-299582b89280
Bosworth, Matthew L., Shenhuy, Boran, Walker, A. Sarah, Nafilyan, Vahé, Alwan, Nisreen A., O'Hara, Margaret E. and Ayoubkhani, Daniel
(2023)
Risk of new-onset Long Covid following reinfection with SARS-CoV-2: community-based cohort study.
Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 10 (11), [ofad493].
(doi:10.1093/ofid/ofad493).
Abstract
Background: little is known about the risk of Long Covid following reinfection with SARS-CoV-2. We estimated the likelihood of new-onset, self-reported Long Covid after a second SARS-CoV-2 infection, and compared to a first infection.
Methods: we included UK COVID-19 Infection Survey participants who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between 1 November 2021 and 8 October 2022. The primary outcome was self-reported Long Covid 12 to 20 weeks after each infection. Separate analyses were performed for those <16 years and ≥16 years. We estimated adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for new-onset Long Covid using logistic regression, comparing second to first infections, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and calendar date of infection, plus vaccination status in those ≥16 years.
Results: overall, Long Covid was reported by those ≥16 years after 4.0% and 2.4% of first and second infections, respectively; the corresponding estimates among those <16 years were 1.0% and 0.6%. The aOR for Long Covid after second compared to first infections was 0.72 (95% confidence interval: 0.63–0.81) for those ≥16 years and 0.93 (0.57–1.53) for those <16 years.
Conclusions: the risk of new-onset Long Covid after a second SARS-CoV-2 infection is lower than that after a first infection for those ≥16 years, though there is no evidence of a difference in risk for those <16 years. However, there remains some risk of new-onset Long Covid after a second infection, with around 1 in 40 of those ≥16 years and 1 in 165 of those <16 years reporting Long Covid after a second infection.
Text
New_onset_long_COVID_after_reinfection_R1_clean (2)
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 2 October 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 October 2023
Published date: 1 November 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
Financial support. The CIS is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and the UKHSA with in-kind support from the Welsh government; the Department of Health on behalf of the Northern Ireland government; and the Scottish government. There was no dedicated funding for this study of CIS data. D. A. is supported by the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands. A. S. W. is supported by the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance (NIHR200915), a partnership between the UKHSA and the University of Oxford. A. S. W. is also supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre and is an NIHR Senior Investigator. N. A. A. is a co-investigator on NIHR-supported research on long COVID (STIMULATE-ICP and HI-COVE studies).
Funding Information:
The CIS is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and the UKHSA with in-kind support from the Welsh government; the Department of Health on behalf of the Northern Ireland government; and the Scottish government. There was no dedicated funding for this study of CIS data. D. A. is supported by the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands. A. S. W. is supported by the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance (NIHR200915), a partnership between the UKHSA and the University of Oxford. A. S. W. is also supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre and is an NIHR Senior Investigator. N. A. A. is a co-investigator on NIHR-supported research on long COVID (STIMULATE-ICP and HI-COVE studies).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Keywords:
COVID-19, coronavirus, long COVID, post-COVID condition, reinfection
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 482667
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/482667
ISSN: 2328-8957
PURE UUID: 7e6ffd0a-9b23-4a71-9253-0bdec92c296e
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 11 Oct 2023 16:50
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:32
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Contributors
Author:
Matthew L. Bosworth
Author:
Boran Shenhuy
Author:
A. Sarah Walker
Author:
Vahé Nafilyan
Author:
Margaret E. O'Hara
Author:
Daniel Ayoubkhani
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