Symptoms Compatible With Long COVID in Healthcare Workers With and Without SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Results of a Prospective Multicenter Cohort

    January 2022 in “ Clinical Infectious Diseases ”
    Carol Strahm, Marco Seneghini, Sabine Güsewell, Thomas Egger, Onício Leal Neto, Angela Brucher, Eva Lemmenmeier, Dorette Meier Kleeb, Jens Carsten Möller, Philip Rieder, Markus Ruetti, Remus Rutz, Hans Ruedi Schmid, Reto Stocker, Danielle Vuichard‐Gysin, Benedikt Wiggli, Ulrike Besold, Stefan P. Kuster, Allison McGeer, Lorenz Risch, Andrée Friedl, Matthias Schlegel, Dagmar Schmid, Pietro Vernazza, Christian R. Kahlert, Philipp Köhler
    TLDR Healthcare workers with COVID-19 reported more long-term symptoms, and physical activity may help reduce some of these symptoms.
    The study examined long COVID symptoms in 3,346 healthcare workers in Switzerland, including 784 diagnosed with COVID-19. It found that those with a positive nasopharyngeal swab reported more symptoms, such as exhaustion, impaired taste/olfaction, and hair loss, compared to seronegative controls. Interestingly, seropositive workers without a positive swab were only mildly affected, with hair loss and impaired taste being more prevalent. Symptoms persisted beyond 6 months, and higher anti-spike protein antibody levels were linked to more symptoms. Physical activity appeared to have a protective effect against neurocognitive impairment and fatigue. The study emphasized the importance of including noninfected controls to better understand nonspecific symptoms and suggested further research into the protective role of physical activity against long COVID.
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