Table 1 Characteristics of individuals with COVID-19 by symptom duration, compared to age-, sex- and BMI-matched app users who tested negative for COVID-19

From: Attributes and predictors of long COVID

   

Positive PCR test

Matched negative sample

 

Short (<10 d)

LC28 (≥28 d) (including LC56)

LC56 (≥56 d)

Intermediate (≥10 d < 28 d

Overall

Number

1,591

558

189

1,915

4,182

4,182

UK/SE/US (numbers; %)

1,365/139/87;

85.8/8.7/5.5

466/57/35;

83.5/10.2/6.3

165/12/12;

87.3/6.3/6.3

1,558/271/86;

81.4/14.2/4.5

3,491/473/218;

83.5/11.3/5.2

3,882/131/169;

92.8/3.1/4.1

Male (%)

32.7

20.3***

16.9*

27.9

28.5

28.5

Age, years (median, IQR)

38 (29–49)

50 (39–57)***

52 (43–59)***

43 (33–53)

42 (32–53)

42 (32–53)

Age group

(18–49/50–69/ >70) (numbers; %)

1,122/331/38;

75.3/22.2/2.5

259/262/24;

47.5/48.1/4.4

69/96/11;

39.2/54.5/6.3

1,293/594/28;

67.5/31.0/1.5

2,627/1,195/96;

62.8/28.6/2.3

2,821/1,264/97;

67.5/30.2/2.3

Obese (%)

23.8

27.6*

26.5

27.7***

26.3

26.4

BMI (kg/m2) (median, IQR)

25.5 (22.7–29.7)

26.1 (23.3–30.5)

25.9(23.3–30.5)

26.2 (23.2–30.7)***

25.9(23.3–30.3)

25.9 (23.0–30.3)

Asthma (%)

7.7

15.8***

18.0***

10.0*

10.0

13.7

Lung disease (%)

12.8

16.5**

15.9

13.3

13.6

13.7

Diabetes (%)

3.0

3.9

5.8*

2.6

2.9

2.8

Heart disease (%)

1.7

3.2**

4.8**

1.6

1.9

1.7

Kidney disease (%)

0.5

0.9

0.5

0.4

0.6

0.6

IMD (median decile, IQR)

7 (4–9)

7 (5–9)

7 (5–9)

7 (4–9)*

7 (4–9)

7(5–9)***

IMD quintilesa (numbers; %)

64/75/334/132/634

5.2/6.1/27.0/10.7/51.2

23/23/86/49/240

5.5/5.5/20.4/11.6/57.0

10/9/26/18/88

6.6/6.0/17.2/11.9/58.3

155/246/310/334/397

10.7/17.1/21.5/23.2/27.5

158/194 /830/363 /1653

4.9 /6.1/26.0/11.4/51.7

118/193/895/376/2057

3.2/5.3/24.6/10.3/56.5

Visit to hospital (%)

7.0

31.5***

43.9***

14.3***

13.9

4.1

Number of symptoms in the first week (median, IQR)

5 (3–7)

7 (5–9)***

7 (5–9)***

6(4–8)***

6 (4–8)

3 (2–4)***

  1. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences compared to short COVID; *P < 0.1, **P < 0.05 and ***P < 0.01. Comparisons were performed with respect to the ‘short duration’ within the positive group. Matched negatives were compared to the overall positive population. Two-sided Mann–Whitney U tests were performed for continuous variables, and chi-squared tests were performed when comparing proportions. UK, United Kingdom; SE, Sweden; US, United States of America,
  2. a IMD information is available only for app users from the UK who entered a complete postcode.
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