Sociodemographic factors, biomarkers and comorbidities associated with post-acute COVID-19 sequelae in UK Biobank, 2025, Alcalde-Herraiz et al

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Sociodemographic factors, biomarkers and comorbidities associated with post-acute COVID-19 sequelae in UK Biobank

Marta Alcalde-Herraiz, Shahed Iqbal, Jeffrey J. Wallin, Yunhao Liu, Wildaliz Nieves, Mark Berry, Marti Catala, Daniel Prieto-Alhambra & Junqing Xie

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Abstract
Long-term sequelae of COVID-19 remain critical public health concerns, with limited therapeutic options available. We conducted two case-control studies among COVID-19 infected individuals in the UK Biobank to explore the association of sociodemographic factors, clinical biomarkers, and comorbidities with the risk of two key phenotypes: Long COVID (LC, defined by patient self-report symptoms) and post-acute complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PACS, defined by clinical diagnosis), separately.

Our study included 8,668 participants in the LC cohort (32% classified as cases) and 108,407 in the PACS cohort (with 2% being cases).

Findings showed that age and sex were associated with both LC and PACS but in opposite directions. Additionally, obesity, socioeconomic deprivation, elevated C-reactive protein, triglyceride, vitamin D, HbA1c, cystatin C, urate, and alanine aminotransferase, and decreased HDL cholesterol and IGF-1, as well as CKD and COPD, were associated with LC. Most of these factors were also significant for PACS, except for alanine aminotransferase and vitamin D.

These findings have potential mechanistic implications for the distinction between LC and PACS and can guide clinical implementation of identifying high-risk groups for targeted vaccination or other public health mitigation strategies.

Web | PDF | Nature Communications | Open Access

 

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Long COVID (LC, defined by patient self-report symptoms) and post-acute complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PACS, defined by clinical diagnosis), separately.

Findings showed that age and sex were associated with both LC and PACS but in opposite directions.

[...] male sex were also linked to a higher risk of PACS: [...] ORadjusted = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.24 to 1.59, respectively.

Interesting that males are more at risk than females of clinically diagnosed PACS here.

 

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No data on vaccination:

Our study focused on identifying determinants of LC and PACS, but it is important to consider the broader context of interventions that may influence these outcomes. For example, vaccination before infection has also been reported to partially mediate the risk of sequelae at 6 months by 15%20. A recent study that conducted a multinational staggered cohort study21 suggested that vaccination could mitigate the risk of acute and subacute post-COVID-19 venous thromboembolism and heart failure by 40% and 30%, respectively, for 90–180 days post-COVID-19 infection. However, we did not have data regarding vaccination, so we could not explore how it affects the outcomes.