Physical and cognitive impact following SARS-CoV-2 infection in a large population-based case-control study.
Hilma HólmErna V IvarsdottirThorhildur OlafsdottirRosa B ThorolfsdottirElias EythorssonKristjan NorlandRosa S GisladottirGudrun JonsdottirUnnur UnnsteinsdottirKristin E SveinsdottirBenedikt A JonssonMargret AndresdottirDavid O ArnarAsgeir O ArnthorssonKolbrún BirgisdottirKristbjorg BjarnadottirSolveig BjarnadottirGyda BjornsdottirGudmundur EinarssonBerglind EiriksdottirElisabet Eir GardarsdottirThorarinn GislasonMagnus GottfredssonSteinunn GudmundsdottirJulius GudmundssonKristbjorg GunnarsdottirAnna HelgadottirDadi HelgasonIngibjorg HinriksdottirRagnar F IngvarssonSigga S JonasdottirIngileif JónsdóttirTekla H KarlsdottirAnna M KristinsdottirSigurdur Yngvi KristinssonSteinunn KristjansdottirThorvardur J LoveDora LudviksdottirGisli MassonGudmundur NorddahlThorunn Asta OlafsdottirIsleifur OlafssonThorunn RafnarHrafnhildur L RunolfsdottirJona SaemundsdottirSvanur SigurbjornssonKristin SigurdardottirEngilbert SigurdssonMartin I SigurdssonEmil L SigurdssonValgerdur SteinthorsdottirGardar SveinbjornssonEmil A ThorarensenBjarni ThorbjornssonBrynja ThorsteinsdottirVinicius TraganteMagnus O UlfarssonHreinn StefanssonThorsteinn GislasonMar KristjanssonRunolfur PalssonPatrick SulemUnnur ThorsteinsdottirGudmundur ThorgeirssonDaníel F GuðbjartssonKári StefánssonPublished in: Communications medicine (2023)
We confirm that diverse symptoms are common months after SARS-CoV-2 infection but find few differences between cases and controls in objective parameters measured. These discrepancies between symptoms and physical measures suggest a more complicated contribution to symptoms related to prior infection than is captured with conventional tests. Traditional clinical assessment is not expected to be particularly informative in relating symptoms to a past SARS-CoV-2 infection.