Quantifying the symptom burden of COVID-19: pre-infection through 1 month
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Background
To characterize Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptom severity, and recovery from pre-infection through one month, overall and by risk groups.
Methods
Symptomatic adults aged ≥18 years with test-confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled from ambulatory care clinics within a national U.S. retail pharmacy network between 10/24/2024 and 08/29/2025 ( NCT05160636 ). Adjusted mixed models for repeated measures estimated least-squares mean changes (LSE) and standard errors (SE) from pre-infection and on Days 1-7, 10, 14, and Week 4 from enrollment in composite symptom scores (sum of severity ratings (0-3) across 14 symptoms), counts of mild-to-severe, moderate-to-severe, and severe symptoms, overall and by age and clinical risk status. Effect sizes (ES) were defined as small (0.2-<0.5), medium (≥0.5), and large (≥0.8).
Results
The analysis included 608 adults. On Day 1, symptom severity rose sharply from pre-infection for the composite symptom score (LSE 14.2 [SE 0.3]; ES 2.22), mild-to-severe (7.6 [0.1]; 2.72), moderate-to-severe (5.0 [0.2]; 1.77); and severe (1.8 [0.1]; 0.92) (all p<0.001). By Week 4, composite score (0.7 [0.2]; 0.26), mild-to-severe (0.5 [0.1]; 0.23); moderate-to-severe symptoms (0.1 [0.1]; 0.17) and severe symptoms (0.2 [0.1]; 0.5) remained slightly above baseline (all p≤0.025). Elevated severe symptom durations varied: high-risk adults (through Day 3), adults <50 years (through Day 7), and adults ≥50 years (through Day 7).
Conclusions
COVID-19 was associated with notable acute symptoms in outpatients, followed by gradual improvement over time, although symptoms still persisted at four weeks. Improvement in severe symptoms varied by individual risk profile, reinforcing the importance risk-based follow-up and ongoing monitoring.
