SynthesisInternal and emergency medicine2023
Incidence of long COVID-19 in people with previous SARS-Cov2 infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 120,970 patients.
Synthesis in Internal and emergency medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of Exercise-Based Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Patients with Long COVID: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Advances in respiratory medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Association between vaccinations and risk of dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Age and ageing · 2025Pooled it
- Long-Term Sequelae of COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Symptoms 3 Years Post-SARS-CoV-2 Infection.Journal of medical virology · 2025Pooled it
- The risk of Long Covid symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled studies.Nature communications · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence and symptoms of Long Covid-19 in the workplace.Occupational medicine (Oxford, England) · 2025Pooled it
- The Omics Landscape of Long COVID-A Comprehensive Systematic Review to Advance Biomarker, Target and Drug Discovery.Allergy · 2025Pooled it
- Global prevalence of post-COVID-19 condition: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective evidence.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2025Pooled it
- Definitions and symptoms of the post-COVID syndrome: an updated systematic umbrella review.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- The prolonged health sequelae "of the COVID-19 pandemic" in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Biases and limitations in observational studies of Long COVID prevalence and risk factors: A rapid systematic umbrella review.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Incidence and burden of long COVID in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2023Pooled it
- Characterizing health-related quality of life and identifying disease predictors among patients suspected of having long COVID: an analysis of COMET-ICE clinical trial data.Frontiers in public health · 2024Trial
- Exploring the implementation of a long COVID rehabilitation intervention: a mixed-methods process evaluation.BMC health services research · 2026Observational
- Brain connectivity and its relation to cognitive function in patients with post-COVID 19 condition after mild infection.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Immune correlates underlying small fiber neuropathy presenting as vaccine-associated post-acute SARS- coronavirus syndrome.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- How a long COVID rehabilitation intervention works: refining its programme theory through a realist-informed qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Pre-pandemic lifestyle patterns and mental health outcomes among people reporting post-acute sequelae of COVID-19: evidence from a Slovenian population-based sample.BMC public health · 2025Article
- A public health perspective of SARS-CoV-2 evolution and surveillance strategies in Germany from 2020 to 2023.Communications medicine · 2025Review
- Healthcare gaps and inequities following hospitalisation for COVID-19 in Brazil's universal healthcare system: a patient-engaged survey of Long COVID healthcare needs, use and barriers.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Association Between Vitamin D Levels and Long COVID Signs and Symptoms.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The long-term consequences of the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) are likely to be frequent but results hitherto are inconclusive. Therefore, we aimed to define the incidence of long-term COVID signs and symptoms as defined by the World Health Organization, using a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. A systematic search in several databases was carried out up to 12 January 2022 for observational studies reporting the cumulative incidence of long COVID signs and symptoms divided according to body systems affected. Data are reported as incidence and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Several sensitivity and meta-regression analyses were performed. Among 11,162 papers initially screened, 196 were included, consisting of 120,970 participants (mean age: 52.3 years; 48.8% females) who were followed-up for a median of six months. The incidence of any long COVID symptomatology was 56.9% (95% CI 52.2-61.6). General long COVID signs and symptoms were the most frequent (incidence of 31%) and digestive issues the least frequent (7.7%). The presence of any neurological, general and cardiovascular long COVID symptomatology was most frequent in females. Higher mean age was associated with higher incidence of psychiatric, respiratory, general, digestive and skin conditions. The incidence of long COVID symptomatology was different according to continent and follow-up length. Long COVID is a common condition in patients who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, regardless of the severity of the acute illness, indicating the need for more cohort studies on this topic.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.