Association between pre-existing chronic conditions and severity of first SARS-CoV-2 infection symptoms among adults living in Canada, 2025, Cheta et

Abstract
Background: Individuals living with chronic conditions (CC) typically have a higher risk of more severe outcomes when exposed to infection. Although many studies have investigated the relationship between CCs and COVID-19 severity, they are generally limited to clinical or hospitalized populations. There is a need to estimate the impact of pre-existing CCs on the severity of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection symptoms among the general population.

Methods: Data from the Canadian COVID-19 Antibody and Health Survey - Cycle 2, a population-based cross-sectional probability survey across 10 provinces capturing the COVID-19 experiences of respondents from January 2020 to August 2022, were used to assess whether pre-existing CCs increased the odds of more severe self-reported infection symptoms among adults living in Canada. Multivariable regression modelling identified which CCs were independently associated with more severe infection symptoms after adjusting for sex, age at infection, and other significant covariates.

Results: Chronic lung disease (aOR = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.09, 2.46), high blood pressure (aOR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.13, 1.62), weakened immune system (aOR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.98), chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia (aOR = 2.20, 95% CI: 1.39, 3.50), and arthritis (aOR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.56) were associated with a higher odds of more severe infection, whereas osteoporosis (aOR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.87) was associated with a lower odds. Limiting modelling to adults with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections affected some of the variables retained and adjusted associations.

Conclusion: Our findings contribute to a growing evidence base of associations between pre-existing CCs and adverse outcomes after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Identifying factors associated with more severe infection allows for more targeted prevention strategies and early interventions that can minimize the impact of infection.

Keywords: CCAHS-2; COVID-19; Canada; SARS-CoV-2; chronic conditions; cross-sectional survey; multivariable modeling; severity.

Association between pre-existing chronic conditions and severity of first SARS-CoV-2 infection symptoms among adults living in Canada: a population-based survey analysis from January 2020 to August 2022 - PubMed

 

The diagnoses of CFS and fibromyalgia were self-reported:

At the start of the study, 1.4% of the 9132 participants reported chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia.

 

This link has the full paper: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-025-22041-7

 

I wonder why they grouped CFS and FM.

They also asked about ‘chronic neurological disorder’, but had a separate item for Alzheimer’s (and dementia). Alzheimer’s is classified as a neurological disorder in ICD-10 (G30). ME/CFS is also classified as a neurological disorder in ICD-10 (G93.3).

FM is classified as ‘Other and unspecified soft tissue disorders, not elsewhere classified’ (M79), where M means ‘Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue’.

I believe this is the survey:
https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3Instr.pl?Function=assembleInstr&a=1&&lang=en&Item_Id=1381547

CHC_Q15 Do you have any of the following long-term health conditions?

• 01: Chronic lung condition (e.g., emphysema or bronchitis)
• 02: Sleep apnea
• 03: Asthma
• 04: Chronic heart disease
• 05: Diabetes (Exclude gestational diabetes.)
• 06: Chronic kidney disease
• 07: Liver disease (e.g., chronic hepatitis)
• 08: High blood pressure
• 09: Chronic blood disorder
• 10: Osteoporosis
• 11: Back problems
• 12: Urinary incontinence
• 13: Bowel disorder
• 14: A weakened immune system (e.g., due to disease or medication)
• 15: Chronic neurological disorder
• 16: Chronic fatigue syndrome or Fibromyalgia
• 17: The effects of a stroke
• 18: Alzheimer's disease or other dementia
• 19: Mental health condition (e.g., depression, anxiety)
• 20: Arthritis
• 21: Other
• 22: None of the above

 

LOL. LMAO, even.

Yes, you are tasting the meats, and the herbs, and the spices, and the vegetables, and the fat, and the broth, and the salt. But it's button soup, and there's no button soup with a button, you simply would not taste anything without it. So it must be the button, the rest of the 'taste' is just happy coincidence. It just happens to taste like all those other things. By pure coincidence. The mind is just that powerful, which is something that is only ever said in this very specific context and no other.

Gotta love how the whole idea behind the lie that they don't mean anything special by it, that all diseases and illnesses worsen from the generic concept of stress, whatever it means in whatever context, but it's just especially true for, you know, 'other' illnesses, because, uh, why not? Coincidence, or whatever. Could be anything. The winds on Jupiter. Stock markets RoI. Firefly having been cancelled.

It could be literally anything, which is why it must specifically be this, which happens to have been a target of fanatical obsession for over a century, and still going strong, almost like it's an addiction.