A Bayesian Survival Analysis on Long COVID and Non-Long COVID Patients: A Cohort Study Using National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) Data

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, numerous studies have focused on the long-term effects of COVID infection. On 1 October 2021, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) implemented a new code in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) for reporting ‘Post COVID-19 condition, unspecified (U09.9)’. This change indicated that the CDC recognized Long COVID as a real illness with associated chronic conditions. The National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) provides researchers with abundant electronic health record (EHR) data by harmonizing EHR data across more than 80 different clinical organizations in the United States. This paper describes the creation of a COVID-positive N3C cohort balanced by the presence or absence of Long COVID (U09.9) and evaluates whether or not documented Long COVID (U09.9) is associated with decreased survival length.