Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38867247›Full record

ArticleBMC medicine2024

"The dream is that there's one place you go": a qualitative study of women's experiences seeking care from Long COVID clinics in the USA.

Linnea I Laestadius, Jeanine P D Guidry, Megan M Wahl, Paul B Perrin, Kellie E Carlyle, Xiaobei Dong, Raouf Gharbo, Celeste Campos-Castillo

Erratum issuedAbstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in BMC medicine, 2024. 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 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Patient and Professional Perspectives on Long COVID: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Synthesis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Linnea I LaestadiusZilber College of Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA. LLaestad@uwm.edu.
Jeanine P D GuidryDepartment of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Megan M WahlZilber College of Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Paul B PerrinSchool of Data Science and Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
Kellie E CarlyleSchool of Population Health, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
Xiaobei DongZilber College of Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Raouf GharboDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA.
Celeste Campos-CastilloDepartment of Media and Information, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSeeking and obtaining effective health care for Long COVID remains a challenge in the USA. Women have particularly been impacted, as they are both at higher risk of developing Long COVID and of facing gendered barriers to having symptoms acknowledged. Long COVID clinics, which provide multidisciplinary and coordinated care, have emerged as a potential solution. To date, however, there has been little examination of U.S. patient experiences with Long COVID clinics and how patients may or may not have come to access care at a Long COVID clinic.

methodsWe conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 U.S. women aged 18 or older who had experienced Long COVID symptoms for at least 3 months, who had not been hospitalized for acute COVID-19, and who had seen at least one medical provider about their symptoms. Participants were asked about experiences seeking medical care for Long COVID. Long COVID clinic-related responses were analyzed using qualitative framework analysis to identify key themes in experiences with Long COVID clinics.

resultsOf the 30 women, 43.3% (n = 13) had been seen at a Long COVID clinic or by a provider affiliated with a Long COVID clinic and 30.0% (n = 9) had explored or attempted to see a Long COVID clinic but had not been seen at time of interview. Participants expressed five key themes concerning their experiences with seeking care from Long COVID clinics: (1) Access to clinics remains an issue, (2) Clinics are not a one stop shop, (3) Not all clinic providers have sufficient Long COVID knowledge, (4) Clinics can offer validation and care, and (5) Treatment options are critical and urgent.

conclusionsWhile the potential for Long COVID clinics is significant, findings indicate that ongoing barriers to care and challenges related to quality and coordination of care hamper that potential and contribute to distress among women seeking Long COVID care. Since Long COVID clinics are uniquely positioned and framed as being the place to go to manage complex symptoms, it is critical to patient wellbeing that they be properly resourced to provide a level of care that complies with emerging best practices.

Indexed as

COVID-19Patient Acceptance of Health CareQualitative ResearchAdultAgedAmbulatory Care FacilitiesFemaleHealth Services AccessibilityHumansInterviews as TopicMiddle AgedPost-Acute COVID-19 SyndromeSARS-CoV-2United StatesYoung AdultAccess to careLong COVIDPost COVIDQualitativeQuality of careWomen

Identifiers

PMID38867247
PMCPMC11170900

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

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.