Patients with were more likely than the general population to report infection during France's first COVID-19 wave than its second wave.
Evidence
A case-population study compared 177 multidisciplinary clinic patients with post-COVID-19 condition against Paris-area and French general population infection timing, finding higher first-versus-second-wave odds in patients (OR 1.74 and 1.36 in sensitivity analysis).
Caveat
The comparison uses reported infection timing in a clinical sample, so it supports contextual associations rather than proving which first-wave factors caused persistent symptoms.
Simplified
BACKGROUND: affects up to 10% of patients months after a COVID-19 episode. Population-based epidemiology suggests that self-reported in France might be more common among those infected during the first wave of the pandemic than the second one, supporting the role of contextual risk factors in symptom persistence in some patients. We aimed to examine whether this pattern could also be observed in a clinical setting, considering patients with well-characterized post-COVID-19 condition and the general population.
METHODS: In a case-population study, we compared the rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection during the first wave (January 1 to May 11, 2020) versus the second wave, which involved the same historical variant (May 12, 2020 to January 15, 2021) between patients with post-COVID-19 condition assessed during a multidisciplinary day-hospital program and the general population. Binary logistic regression was used to compute odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for infection during the first versus the second wave.
RESULTS: Among 177 consecutive patients, the odds of reporting SARS-CoV-2 infection during the first versus the second wave were significantly higher than in the Paris area general population (OR [95% CI]: 1.74 [1.27–2.40]), < 0.001). The results remained similar in sensitivity analyses considering the French general population (1.36 [1.02–1.88]). p
CONCLUSIONS: These results further suggest the role of contextual factors in long COVID and the relevance of a biopsychosocial perspective.
Key numbers
1.74
Higher Odds of Infection
Odds ratio comparing vs. infections in the study population.
1.36
Increased Odds in Sensitivity Analysis
Odds ratio in sensitivity analysis extending to the French general population.
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