ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2023
The health impact of long COVID during the 2021-2022 Omicron wave in Australia: a quantitative burden of disease study.
Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- The burden of COVID-19 based on disability-adjusted life years: a systematic review of available evidence.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Health gains from achieving optimal body mass index in Australia: a simulation study.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2024Article
- Symptom response and episodic disability of long COVID in people with spinal cord injury: A case-control study.PloS one · 2024Article
- Clinical characteristics and short-term outcomes of acute pancreatitis among patients with COVID-19.European journal of medical research · 2023Observational
- Long COVID and Significant Activity Limitation Among Adults, by Age - United States, June 1-13, 2022, to June 7-19, 2023.MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLong COVID symptoms occur for a proportion of acute COVID-19 survivors, with reduced risk among the vaccinated and for Omicron compared with Delta variant infections. The health loss attributed to pre-Omicron long COVID has previously been estimated using only a few major symptoms.
methodsThe years lived with disability (YLDs) due to long COVID in Australia during the 2021-22 Omicron BA.1/BA.2 wave were calculated using inputs from previously published case-control, cross-sectional or cohort studies examining the prevalence and duration of individual long COVID symptoms. This estimated health loss was compared with acute SARS-CoV-2 infection YLDs and years of life lost (YLLs) from SARS-CoV-2. The sum of these three components equals COVID-19 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs); this was compared with DALYs from other diseases.
resultsA total of 5200 [95% uncertainty interval (UI) 2200-8300] YLDs were attributable to long COVID and 1800 (95% UI 1100-2600) to acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggesting long COVID caused 74% of the overall YLDs from SARS-CoV-2 infections in the BA.1/BA.2 wave. Total DALYs attributable to SARS-CoV-2 were 50 900 (95% UI 21 000-80 900), 2.4% of expected DALYs for all diseases in the same period.
conclusionThis study provides a comprehensive approach to estimating the morbidity due to long COVID. Improved data on long COVID symptoms will improve the accuracy of these estimates. As data accumulate on SARS-CoV-2 infection sequelae (e.g. increased cardiovascular disease rates), total health loss is likely to be higher than estimated in this study. Nevertheless, this study demonstrates that long COVID requires consideration in pandemic policy planning, given it is responsible for the majority of direct SARS-CoV-2 morbidity, including during an Omicron wave in a highly vaccinated population.
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