Systematic literature review identifies increased risk but with very low certainty
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 15, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Preexisting asthma or rhinitis may increase the risk for long COVID (LC), according to a review published online Nov. 8 in Clinical & Experimental Allergy.
Doreen Wolff, from the University of Magdeburg in Germany, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review to examine the epidemiological evidence on allergic diseases as risk factors for LC.
Based on 13 studies (9,967 participants; range, 39 to 1,950 per study), the researchers found that the evidence supported a possible relationship between LC and allergy but was very uncertain. The proportion of people with LC ranged from 11 to 90 percent. In hospital-based populations (six studies; 4,019 participants), the researchers found preexisting asthma measured may be associated with an increased risk for LC (odds ratio, 1.94), with very low certainty. Findings were similar for preexisting rhinitis (three studies; 1,141 participants; odds ratio, 1.96), with very low certainty. All studies had a high risk for bias due to population selection and methods used to ascertain the exposures and the outcome.
“The allergy community should be aware that individuals with asthma or rhinitis might be at increased risk of LC after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection,” the authors write.
One author is the principal investigator of the StopCOVID observational cohort study and co-leads the PC-COS project, developing the Core Outcome Set for post-COVID-19 condition.
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