Vital Measurements of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients as a Predictor of Long COVID: An EHR-based Cohort Study from the RECOVER Program in N3C

TL;DR

This study investigates whether vital signs recorded during the first week of hospitalization can predict Long COVID in COVID-19 patients, using EHR data from the RECOVER program to improve understanding and early detection.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach of using early vital measurements from EHRs to predict Long COVID, enhancing early diagnosis and understanding of the disease.

Findings

Vital signs show distinct patterns in patients who develop Long COVID.

Early vital measurements can improve prediction accuracy for Long COVID.

The study highlights the importance of routine vital sign monitoring in COVID-19 hospitalized patients.

Abstract

It is shown that various symptoms could remain in the stage of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), otherwise known as Long COVID. A number of COVID patients suffer from heterogeneous symptoms, which severely impact recovery from the pandemic. While scientists are trying to give an unambiguous definition of Long COVID, efforts in prediction of Long COVID could play an important role in understanding the characteristic of this new disease. Vital measurements (e.g. oxygen saturation, heart rate, blood pressure) could reflect body's most basic functions and are measured regularly during hospitalization, so among patients diagnosed COVID positive and hospitalized, we analyze the vital measurements of first 7 days since the hospitalization start date to study the pattern of the vital measurements and predict Long COVID with the information from vital measurements.