PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kelly Terlizzi
AU  - Eric Kutscher
AU  - Yuliya Yoncheva
TI  - Monitoring New Symptoms After COVID-19 Infection Among Primary Care Patients in New York City
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2021.05.210122
DP  - 2021 Sep 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
PG  - 1014--1016
VI  - 34
IP  - 5
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/34/5/1014.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/34/5/1014.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med2021 Sep 01; 34
AB  - Introduction: COVID-19 affects multiple organ systems causing substantial long-term morbidity. The implications of the Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly for primary care, remain unknown. This cross-sectional study examines new symptoms reported at primary care encounters during three post-acute follow-up intervals after initial SARS-CoV-2 infection.Methods: Electronic health record data from the NYU Langone COVID Deidentified Dataset were queried for adults with a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test, and then restricted to those with a new ICD-10-CM code documented at a post-acute COVID-related primary care follow-up >14 days after testing positive. New diagnoses and the corresponding Clinical Classifications Software Refined categories were assessed at the following intervals: 0.5–3 months (“subacute”), 3–6 months (“prolonged”), and 6–9 months (“persistent”).Results: Out of 3,154 patients, a new ICD-10-CM code was documented among 499 patients (∼16%). Respiratory complaints, including cough, shortness of breath, dyspnea, and hypoxemia, were most common. Malaise and fatigue were reported consistently among 10–13% of patients at all three time-intervals. Musculoskeletal pain, circulatory symptoms, and sleep-wake disorders were also observed at primary care follow-up.Conclusion: This cross-sectional study provides support of a post-acute COVID syndrome, demonstrating that patients continue to experience symptoms after the acute infection period. Extensive follow-up data allowed for examining new symptoms up to 9 months after initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. Understanding of the course of multi-organ post-acute sequelae is restricted by cross-sectional study design limitations. Standardized, sequelae-related ICD-10-CM codes to specify the type and duration of post-acute COVID-related symptoms would enable better monitoring of the growing number of SARS-CoV-2 infection survivors.