SynthesisNature communications2025
The risk of Long Covid symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled studies.
Synthesis in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
35 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The impact of COVID-19 on general vaccine acceptance in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Risk factors of post-COVID-19 symptoms, a cross-sectional study in patients with asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2026Article
- Cigarette smoking history, e-cigarette use, and Long COVID: a population-based analysis.Internal and emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Distinctive Inflammatory Traits of Parvovirus B19 Infection Associated with Persisting Autoimmunity.Viruses · 2026Observational
- Multimorbidity patterns and phenotype transitions in patients with clinician-coded long COVID: a multicenter US electronic health record cohort study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Prevalence and characteristics of persistent symptoms following hospitalization for COVID-19: a cross-sectional follow-up study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Impact of long COVID on health-related quality-of-life among Japanese adults: findings of CARE Japan study.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Activation of the Lectin Pathway Drives Persistent Complement Dysregulation in Long COVID.Immunology · 2026Article
- Early-Phase Oral Antiviral Use and Post-COVID-19 Condition in Outpatients.JAMA network open · 2026Observational
- Persistent Symptoms After SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Referred Occupational Clinical Registry: Symptom Patterns and Associated Factors.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Trends in depressive episodes in pre-, intra-, and post-COVID-19 pandemic periods among South Korean adults.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Single-Cell Transcriptomic Analysis of Salivary Epithelial Cells Reveals Large-Scale Dysregulation in Bitter Taste Dysfunction.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Clinical relevance of circulating blood microaggregates and reactivation of Epstein Barr Virus in long-term Post-CoVID syndrome patients.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Tubular Damage Biomarkers Are a Useful Tool for Identifying Early Renal Injury in Long COVID.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Observational
- Global research trends and hotspot evolution of olfactory dysfunction from 2014 to 2024: a bibliometric analysis.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2026Review
- Rethinking measurement of health outcomes in Long COVID: complexities, challenges and considerations.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2026Article
- Excess primary healthcare consultations in Norway in 2024 compared to pre-COVID-19-pandemic baseline trends.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- Aptamer-based analyses of plasma proteome in individuals with post-COVID condition who underwent tailored physical activity.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- From HIV to SARS-CoV-2 associated neurological disorder ("HAND" to "SAND"): Viral infection as a "time-bomb" for the aging brain.Neuroscience applied · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
27 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The global evidence on the risk of symptoms of Long Covid in general populations infected with SARS-CoV-2 compared to uninfected comparator/control populations remains unknown. We conducted a systematic literature search using multiple electronic databases from January 1, 2022, to August 1, 2024. Included studies had ≥100 people with confirmed or self-reported COVID-19 at ≥28 days following infection onset, and an uninfected comparator/control group. Results were summarised descriptively and meta-analyses were conducted to derive pooled risk ratio estimates. 50 studies totaling 14,661,595 people were included. In all populations combined, there was an increased risk of a wide range of 39 out of 40 symptoms in those infected with SARS‑CoV‑2 compared to uninfected controls. The symptoms with the highest pooled relative risks were loss of smell (RR 4.31; 95% CI 2.66, 6.99), loss of taste (RR 3.71; 95% CI 2.22, 7.26), poor concentration (RR 2.68; 95% CI 1.66, 4.33), impaired memory (RR 2.53; 95% CI 1.82, 3.52), and hair loss/alopecia (RR 2.38; 95% CI 1.69, 3.33). This evidence synthesis, of 50 controlled studies with a cumulative participant count exceeding 14 million people, highlights a significant risk of diverse long-term symptoms in individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2, especially among those who were hospitalised.
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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.