Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis (IPDMA) of long-term COVID-19 outcomes in a systematic review-informed, international, multidisciplinary database

As yet, we know little about the long-term effects of COVID-19. With better information, we can provide the right health care and support to the people that need it most. We aimed to create and analyse a global COVID-19 healthcare database that describes long-term effects of COVID-19. We searched for studies involving people with COVID-19, including information on their age, health, well-being, work and long-term recovery. We analysed data from this database including on overall perception of health, thinking and memory, anxiety, depression, stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, tiredness, strength, walking ability, mobility, ability to cope with daily life, breathlessness, death, the chances of later hospitalisation and health-related quality of life (a measure of how people viewed their health and quality of life). Our database included more than 62,000 people from 40 countries. We described 158 unique COVID-19 symptoms and 137 unique measurements of its impacts. Women and vulnerable populations were particularly impacted by COVID-19. In most of our analyses, women had poorer outcomes compared with men. We also saw indications that some outcomes were poorer as a person got older, or if they had existing lung disease, were hospitalised for COVID-19, or had diabetes or chronic kidney problems, when compared to people without these problems. Being hospitalised with COVID-19 resulted in lower health-related quality of life that did not appear to recover for up to 2 years after the initial COVID-19 infection. Our findings highlighted that women and people with pre-existing health problems were particularly impacted as a consequence of COVID-19 infection compared to men and previously healthy people. We also identified the need for more targeted research on isolation, loneliness and return to work after COVID-19.