Clinical-epidemiological characterization of patients with long COVID in Mexico.

Background: Long COVID is defined as the persistence of COVID-19 symptoms four weeks after having undergone acute infection, according to the most recent CDC definition. It is estimated that there are 65 million people affected by this entity, although other figures speak of 200 million.

Objective: To characterize the population affected by long COVID in Mexico.

Material and methods: Patients older than 18 years who agreed to answer an online survey and who met the criteria for long COVID were included.

Results: Data from 203 subjects were included, with 138 (68.0%) being found to be females, and average age to be 41.8 years; 29.6% had severe disease, and 70.4%, mild to moderate disease; 89.7% had received prior COVID-19 vaccination: 6.9% had received one dose; 31.5%, two doses; and 51.2%, three or more doses. The main risk factors were diabetes, overweight or obesity, and hypertension. The most commonly reported symptom was fatigue, followed by other neuropsychiatric manifestations.

Conclusion: It is important for the population affected by long COVID to be characterized in order to generate diagnostic and treatment protocols.