covid-19 pandemic is not over for survivors with long covid syndrome: evidence of a one-year retrospective follow-up study from iran

Background: most patients who are infected by covid-19 develop recovery from it; however, some of these patients experience a variety of mid- and long-term physical and/or mental effects after their initial illness recovery. these mid and long-term effects are collectively known as post-covid-19 conditions or “long covid.” objectives: we aimed to detect the incidence of long covid syndrome (lcs) and its determinants. methods: in this retrospective cohort study, previously hospitalized subjects due to covid-19 were selected by systematic random sampling. a valid checklist was filled out by phone interview with each participant, while hospitalization data were extracted from hospital information system. data were analyzed using spss software. results: the mean age of 1,738 interviewees was 54.2 ± 14.5 years. the median time of follow-up was 352 days. overall, 1,526 (87.8%) interviewees had at least one symptom of lcs. among physical symptoms, hair loss (23.9%) and among psychological complaints, depression (69.1%) were predominant. anemia (odds ratio (or): 3.22, 95% confidence interval (ci): 1.49 - 6.98), patients of second epidemic wave (or: 2.82, 95% ci: 1.57 - 5.07), use of vitamins/minerals (or: 2.25, 95% ci: 1.53 - 3.3) or antibiotics (or: 1.84, 95% ci: 1.02 - 3.33), diabetes mellitus (or: 1.9, 95% ci: 1.11 - 3.23), who were not the head of their families (or: 1.65, 95% ci: 1.18 - 2.32) and use of antivirals (or: 1.64, 95% ci: 1.03 - 2.61) were significantly associated with lcs. conclusions: covid-19 pandemic is not over, and most covid-19 survivors suffer from lcs. therefore, the establishment of integrated post-covid care systems for these patients is highly needed and recommended.