Post-COVID-19-associated morbidity in children, adolescents, and adults: A matched cohort study including more than 157,000 individuals with COVID-19 in Germany

by Martin Roessler, Falko Tesch, Manuel Batram, Josephine Jacob, Friedrich Loser, Oliver Weidinger, Danny Wende, Annika Vivirito, Nicole Toepfner, Franz Ehm, Martin Seifert, Oliver Nagel, Christina K önig, Roland Jucknewitz, Jakob Peter Armann, Reinhard Berner, Marina Treskova-Schwarzbach, Dagmar Hertle, Stefan Scholz, Stefan Stern, Pedro Ballesteros, Stefan Baßler, Barbara Bertele, Uwe Repschläger, Nico Richter, Cordula Riederer, Franziska Sobik, Anja Schramm, Claudia Schulte, Lothar Wieler, Jochen Walker, Christa Scheidt-Nave, Jochen Schmitt BackgroundLong-term health sequelae of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) are a major public health concern. However, evidence on post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (post-COVID-19) is still limited, particularly for children and adolescents. Utilizing comprehensive healthcare data on approximately 46% of the German population, we investigated post-COVID-19-associated morbidity in children/adolescents and adults. Methods and findingsWe used routine data from German statutory health insurance organizations covering the period between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020. The base population included all individuals insured for at least 1 day in 2020. Based on documented diagnoses, we identified individuals with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 through June 30, 2020. A control cohort was assigned using 1:5 exact matching on age and sex, and propensity score matching on preexisting medical conditions. The date of COVID-...
Source: PLoS Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Source Type: research