Preprint Healthcare utilisation in people with long COVID: an OpenSAFELY cohort study, 2023, Lin et al.

Healthcare utilisation in people with long COVID: an OpenSAFELY cohort study
Liang-Yu Lin; Alasdair D Henderson; Oliver Carlile; Iain Dillingham; Ben FC Butler-Cole; Michael Marks; Andrew Briggs; Mark Jit; Laurie A Tomlinson; Chris Bates; John Parry; Sebastian CJ Bacon; Ben Goldacre; Amir Mehrkar; Brian MacKenna; The OpenSAFELY Collaborative; Rosalind M Eggo; Emily Herrett

Background
Long COVID, characterised by various symptoms and complications, potentially increases healthcare utilisation and costs. However, its impact on the NHS remains to be determined.

Objectives
This study aims to assess the healthcare utilisation of individuals with long COVID.

Methods
With the approval of NHS England, we conducted a matched cohort study using primary and secondary care data via OpenSAFELY, a platform for analysing anonymous electronic health records. The long COVID exposure group, defined by diagnostic codes, was matched with five comparators without long COVID between Nov 2020 and Jan 2023. We compared their total healthcare utilisation from GP consultations, prescriptions, hospital admissions, A&E visits, and outpatient appointments. Healthcare utilisation and costs were evaluated using a two-part model adjusting for covariates. Using a difference-in-difference model, we also compared healthcare utilisation after long COVID with pre-pandemic records.

Results
We identified 52,988 individuals with a long COVID diagnosis, matched to 264,867 comparators without a diagnosis. In the 12 months post-diagnosis, there was strong evidence that those with long COVID were more likely to use healthcare resources (OR: 8.07, 95% CI: 7.54 -8.64), and have 49% more healthcare utilisation (RR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.47 -1.50). Our model estimated that the long COVID group had 30 healthcare visits per year (predicted mean: 29.23, 95% CI: 28.58 -29.92), compared to 16 in the comparator group (predicted mean visits: 16.04, 95% CI: 15.73 -16.36). Individuals with long COVID were more likely to have non-zero healthcare expenditures (OR = 7.47, 95% CI = 7.02 -7.95), with costs being 43% higher than the comparator group (cost ratio = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.38 -1.49). The long COVID group costs approximately 2,500 pounds per person per year (predicted mean cost: 2,562.50, 95% CI: 2,335.60-2,819.22 pounds), and the comparator group costs 1,500 pounds (predicted mean cost: 1,527.43, 95% CI: 1,404.33 -1,664.45 pounds.) Historically, individuals with long COVID utilised healthcare resources more frequently, but their average healthcare utilisation increased more after being diagnosed with long COVID, compared to the comparator group.

Conclusions
Long COVID increases healthcare utilisation and costs. Public health policies should allocate more resources towards preventing, treating, and supporting individuals with long COVID.


Link | PDF (Preprint: MedRxiv)

 

Now published, https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-024-03477-x