Newlands, Fiona;
Rojas, Natalia K;
Nugawela, Manjula;
Pinto Pereira, Snehal M;
Buszewicz, Marta;
Chalder, Trudie;
Cheung, Emily Y;
... Shafran, Roz; + view all
(2023)
A Cross-Sectional Study of the Health of Emerging Young Adults in England Following a COVID-19 Infection.
Journal of Adolescent Health
10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.01.026.
(In press).
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Abstract
PURPOSE: This study describes long COVID symptomatology in a national sample of 18- to 20-year-olds with Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-confirmed Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) and matched test-negative controls in England. Symptoms in 18- to 20-year-olds were compared to symptoms in younger adolescents (aged 11-17 years) and all adults (18+). METHODS: A national database was used to identify SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive 18- to 20-year-olds and test-negative controls matched by time of test, age, gender, and geographical region. Participants were invited to complete a questionnaire about their health retrospectively at time of test and also when completing the questionnaire. Comparison cohorts included children and young people with long COVID and REal-time Assessment of Community Transmission studies. RESULTS: Of 14,986 people invited, 1,001 were included in the analysis (562 test-positive; 440 test-negative). At testing, 46.5% of test-positives and 16.4% of test-negatives reported at least one symptom. At the time of questionnaire completion (median 7 months post-testing), 61.5% of test-positives and 47.5% of test-negatives reported one or more symptoms. The most common symptoms were similar amongst test-positives and test-negatives and included tiredness (44.0%; 35.7%), shortness of breath (28.8%; 16.3%), and headaches (13.7%; 12.0%). Prevalence rates were similar to those reported by 11-17-year-olds (66.5%) and higher than those reported in all adults (37.7%). For 18- to 20-year-olds, there was no significant difference in health-related quality of life and well-being (p > .05). However, test-positives reported being significantly more tired than test-negatives (p = .04). DISCUSSION: Seven months after PCR test, a high proportion of test-positive and test-negative 18- to 20-year-olds reported similar symptoms to each other and to those experienced by younger and older counterparts.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Cross-Sectional Study of the Health of Emerging Young Adults in England Following a COVID-19 Infection |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.01.026 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.01.026 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Emerging adults, Long COVID, Symptoms |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10168098 |
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