Do allergic conditions increase the risk of developing Long-COVID after SARS-CoV-2 infection?

NOVEMBER 8, 2023 - The analysis, which is published in Clinical & Experimental Allergy, identified 13 relevant studies (with a total of 9,967 participants) published between January 1, 2020 and January 19, 2023.

Although the data as a whole from the studies suggested that individuals with asthma or rhinitis might be at increased risk of Long-COVID after SARS-CoV-2 infection, the evidence for these associations was very uncertain. Therefore, more robust epidemiological research is needed to clarify the role of allergy in the development of Long-COVID.

“We need a better, harmonized definition of what is considered Long-COVID for epidemiological studies of this sort. Regardless we will be updating our analysis once further studies have been published in the next few months,” said corresponding author Christian Apfelbacher, PhD, of the Institute of Social Medicine and Health Systems Research, in Germany.

Link to Study: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cea.14391

Full citation: “Allergic diseases as risk factors for Long-COVID symptoms: Systematic review of prospective cohort studies.” Doreen Wolff, Karl Philipp Drewitz, Angela Ulrich, Doreen Siegels, Stefanie Deckert, Antonia Anabella Sprenger, Paula Ricarda Kuper, Jochen Schmitt, Daniel Munblit, Christian Apfelbacher. Clin Exp Allergy. Published Online: 08 November 2023 (DOI: 10.1111/cea.14391).

Copyright © 2019 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., reproduced with permission.