Chandelier
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Temporal, Demographic, and Geographic Patterns of Long COVID Incidence in Relation to SARS-CoV-2 Variant Emergence: Insights from the Texas All-Payer Claims Database (TX-APCD)
• COVID-19 ED visits preceded Long COVID claims by 2–3 weeks across variant periods.
• Median diagnosis time was 22 days after ED vs. 26 days after non-ED encounters.
• Medicare FFS, older adults, and women had elevated documented Long COVID rates.
• Long COVID claims clustered in rural High Plains and Northwest Texas counties.
Individual-level time to first Long COVID diagnosis was modeled comparing ED and non-ED cohorts, adjusting for age, sex, payer, and HHS region.
The median interval from a COVID-related ED encounter to the first Long COVID diagnosis was 22 days, compared with 26 days following non-ED encounters.
Crude incidence was highest among Medicare Fee-for-Service beneficiaries (155 per 10,000), individuals over 70 (156 per 10,000), with higher rates in females than males (81 vs. 59 per 10,000).
Claims clustered in High Plains and Northwest Texas.
Web | DOI | International Journal of Infectious Diseases | Open Access
Peng, Boya; Allen-Benson, Dei'sharrah; Talebi, Yashar; Ghosh, Samiran; Yaseen, Ashraf; Valerio-Shewmaker, Melissa; Boerwinkle, Eric; DeSantis, Stacia M.; Swartz, Michael; Cazaban, Cecilia Ganduglia; Bi, Kaiming
Highlights
• TX-APCD enables state-level Long COVID surveillance across all 254 counties.• COVID-19 ED visits preceded Long COVID claims by 2–3 weeks across variant periods.
• Median diagnosis time was 22 days after ED vs. 26 days after non-ED encounters.
• Medicare FFS, older adults, and women had elevated documented Long COVID rates.
• Long COVID claims clustered in rural High Plains and Northwest Texas counties.
Abstract
Objectives
Long COVID, defined by symptoms persisting or emerging after the acute SARS-CoV-2 phase, poses a growing public health challenge.Methods
Using the Texas All-Payer Claims Database (TX-APCD), covering approximately 60% of insured Texans from October 2021 to October 2023, we examined associations between COVID-19 emergency department (ED) visits and Long COVID claims across variant periods.Individual-level time to first Long COVID diagnosis was modeled comparing ED and non-ED cohorts, adjusting for age, sex, payer, and HHS region.
Results
Weekly COVID-19 ED visits preceded Long COVID claims, with the strongest association at a two-week lag during the Omicron BA.1 period, lengthening to three weeks during the BA.4/BA.5, XBB, and EG.5 periods.The median interval from a COVID-related ED encounter to the first Long COVID diagnosis was 22 days, compared with 26 days following non-ED encounters.
Crude incidence was highest among Medicare Fee-for-Service beneficiaries (155 per 10,000), individuals over 70 (156 per 10,000), with higher rates in females than males (81 vs. 59 per 10,000).
Claims clustered in High Plains and Northwest Texas.
Conclusion
Administrative claims data can characterize the documented burden of Long COVID and identify high-incidence regions and Medicare-heavy populations that may require expanded post-acute care capacity.Web | DOI | International Journal of Infectious Diseases | Open Access