📣 New paper in @NatureMedicine

Three-year outcomes of post-acute sequelae
of COVID-19

By Miao Cai @Biostayan @EricTopol and me

A 🧵

nature.com/articles/s4159… In a study of 5.3 million people including 135,161 people with SARS-CoV-2 infection and 5,206,835 non-infected controls.

We examined risk trajectories of 80 components of Long Covid over 3 years post-infection

nature.com/articles/s4159…

Is Covid still deadlier than the flu in 2024?

The short answer is yes!

In 2024, Covid remains deadlier than flu.

New research from my team in @JAMA_current

By @Biostayan Taeyoung Choi and @zalaly

A thread with the correct links🧵

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/… In this study of 11,272 people

8625 hospitalized for COVID-19
2647 hospitalized for flu

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…

Is Covid still deadlier than the flu in 2024?

The short answer is yes!

In 2024, Covid remains deadlier than flu.

New research from my team in @JAMA_current

By @Biostayan Taeyoung Choi and @zalaly

A thread 🧵

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/… In this study of 11,272 people

8625 hospitalized for COVID-19

2647 hospitalized for flu

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…

📣 New in @ScienceMagazine

I teamed up with @EricTopol to write this #SciencePerspective on Long Covid

Solving the puzzle of #LongCovid

A long 🧵

science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… First, what is Long Covid?

It is a complex nonmonolithic multisystemic disease with sequelae across almost all organ systems

It can manifest across the life span (from children to older adults) and across race & ethnicity, sex, & baseline health status

science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

3 key messages from our recent paper in @TheLancetInfDis

1. Covid is worse than flu

Covid remains a much more serious threat to human health than the flu

thelancet.com/journals/lanin… 2. Comparing the two:

COVID is more multisystemic
Flu is more respiratory

thelancet.com/journals/lanin…

Some people objected to use of the term “long flu”

Let me explain

A thread

thelancet.com/journals/lanin… Lets start with the evidence about health loss

higher in post-acute flu than acute flu

higher in post-acute covid (long covid) than acute covid

In both acute and post-acute phases, burden of health loss was higher in covid than flu

thelancet.com/journals/lanin…

📣 New from my team in @TheLancetInfDis

Long-term outcomes of people hospitalized for COVID-19 vs seasonal influenza

A 🧵

thelancet.com/journals/lanin… The study included:

81,280 individuals hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2
&
10,985 individuals hospitalized for seasonal influenza

We followed them for 1.5 years to characterize the risks of death, health care utilization & 94 health outcomes

thelancet.com/journals/lanin…

1/ 📣 New from my team in @NatureMedicine

In a study of 6 million people, we examined risk trajectories of 80 components of Long Covid over 2 years post-infection

📌 Risks remained elevated for many Long Covid conditions even 2 years infection

A 🧵

nature.com/articles/s4159… 2/ The study included:

138,818 individuals with SARS-CoV-2
&
5,985,227 non-infected controls

We followed them for 2 years to characterize the risk trajectories of death, hospitalization and 80 components of Long Covid

nature.com/articles/s4159…

My piece in @TheLancetInfDis

Reflections on Long Covid prevention: progress and challenges

A thread

thelancet.com/journals/lanin… LongCovid does not only affect patients and their life expectancy, but also societal wellbeing and economic indicators (labour participation and economic productivity).

Preventing long COVID should be a public and a global health priority.

thelancet.com/journals/lanin…

Here is a new thread on our latest study without the full C word - to avoid suppression by the algo

C=kovd

Is C still deadlier than the flu in 2023?

The short answer is yes

New from our team in @JAMA_current

By @Biostayan, Taeyoung Choi and @zalaly

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/… In this study of 11,399 people

8996 hospitalized for C & 2403 hospitalized for flu

5.9% died in the C group vs 3.7% died in the flu group

That is a difference of 2.23% deaths

This translates into 60% higher risk of death in C vs flu

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…

Is covid still deadlier than the flu in 2023?

The short answer is yes

New from our team in @JAMA_current

By @Biostayan Taeyoung Choi and @zalaly

A thread 🧵

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/… In this study of 11,399 people

8996 hospitalized for COVID-19 & 2403 hospitalized for flu

5.9% died in the COVID-19 group vs 3.7% died in the flu group

That is a difference of 2.23% deaths

This translates into 60% higher risk of death in COVID vs flu

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…

Paxlovid can prevent #LongCovid

The latest from our team in @JAMAInternalMed

by @Biostayan @TaeyoungChoi93 @zalaly

A thread

jamanetwork.com/journals/jamai… In this study of 281,793 people with SARS-CoV-2 infection who are eligible for Paxlovid

35,717 received Paxlovid

246,076 received no antiviral treatment

We show that people who got treated with Paxlovid had 26% reduced risk of developing Long Covid

jamanetwork.com/journals/jamai…

Covid-19 may lead to post-acute gastrointestinal (GI) disorders

The latest from our team in @NatureComms

by @evanjxu @Biostayan @zalaly

A thread

nature.com/articles/s4146… In this study of 11,622,484 million people

154,068 with Covid-19

5.6 million contemporary controls, and

5.8 million historical controls

We show an increased risk of post-acute GI abnormalities

nature.com/articles/s4146…

The economic consequences of COVID-19 are huge

Report from @TheEconomist forecasts 0.75% GDP loss in 2025 due to SARS-CoV-2 infections

This equates to ~ $200 billion in US

Reducing burden of Covid is not only the right public health approach, it is impact.economist.com/perspectives/e…… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Also from the report

"Without measures in place to suppress infection rates, SARS-CoV-2 infection could continue to have substantial impacts on economies."

Preliminary data suggests that taking ensitrelvir during the acute phase of covid reduced risk of #LongCovid

Commented on this for @nature also featuring thoughts from @EricTopol and @Daltmann10

Thoughts that didn't make it into the piece in my 🧵below
nature.com/articles/d4158… Data is preliminary, but this is certainly welcome news.

We certainly need bigger and longer term trials to further test this new antiviral

The latest from our team in @TheLancetEndo

We know that SARS-CoV-2 infection may lead to metabolic disturbances including increased risk of diabetes in #LongCovid

But does it also increase risk of high cholesterol?

by @evanjxu @Biostayan @zalaly

thelancet.com/journals/landi… In this study of 4.9 million people

51,919 with COVID-19
2.6 million contemporary controls, and
2.5 million historical controls

We show an increased risk of cholesterol abnormalities in the post-acute phase of COVID-19

thelancet.com/journals/landi…

Outstanding and comprehensive review of #LongCovid

A tour de force by the exceptional @ahandvanish @LisaAMcCorkell @julialmv @EricTopol who are in my view the true heroes of this pandemic

In @NatureRevMicro

nature.com/articles/s4157… Progress has been made over the past 3 years.

But challenges remain and must be urgently addressed.

Understanding #LongCovid will help us

a. understand the other infection-associated chronic illnesses
b. prepare us better for the next pandemic

nature.com/articles/s4157…

My comments to NBC News were misinterpreted.

I am absolutely NOT giving up on the prospects of finding treatment for Long Covid

Absolutely NOT!

nbcnews.com/health/health-… We need to prevent as much Long Covid as possible.

The best way to prevent Long Covid is to:

a. not get covid in the first place (prevent infection and reinfection)
b. vaccines
c. antivirals in the acute phase (paxlovid, etc.).

Here is the latest from our team in @NatureMedicine

Should you protect yourself from Covid-19 reinfection

Yes!

Reinfection is not benign; it is best to avoid it

by @BCBowe @Biostayan @zalaly

A thread 🧵

nature.com/articles/s4159… In this study of 5.8 million people

41k with reinfection

444k with 1 infection (no reinfection)

5.3 million non-infected controls

Compared to no reinfection, reinfection increased risk of death, hospitalization, and other adverse health outcomes

nature.com/articles/s4159…

The high & growing toll of #longCOVID calls for an urgent need to understand how to prevent and treat it

The care needs of people with long COVID must be addressed

Comment in @NatRevNeph by @anupamuab @Dr2NisreenAlwan @valerie_luyckx and me

nature.com/articles/s4158…

🧵 The patient community who, to their credit, first recognized and reported this new syndrome used the term ‘long COVID’ to describe the post-acute and chronic sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection

#LongCovid

nature.com/articles/s4158…

The latest from our team in @NatureMedicine

The long-term neurologic consequences of #COVID19

A thread 🧵

nature.com/articles/s4159…

by @evanjxu @Biostayan @zalaly In this study of 11.6 million people:

154k with COVID-19,
5.6 million contemporary controls, and
5.8 million historical controls

We show increased risk of an array of post-acute neurologic disorders

nature.com/articles/s4159…