gms | German Medical Science

23. Jahrestagung des Deutschen Netzwerks Evidenzbasierte Medizin e. V.

Deutsches Netzwerk Evidenzbasierte Medizin e. V.

01. - 03.09.2022, Lübeck

Recommended long-COVID healthcare pathways: a systematic review

Meeting Abstract

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  • Sarah Wolf - HTA Austria – Austrian Institute for Health Technology Assessment GmbH, Österreich
  • Judit Erdös - HTA Austria – Austrian Institute for Health Technology Assessment GmbH, Österreich

Evidenzbasierte Medizin für eine bedarfsgerechte Gesundheitsversorgung. 23. Jahrestagung des Deutschen Netzwerks Evidenzbasierte Medizin. Lübeck, 01.-03.09.2022. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2022. Doc22ebmPS-01

doi: 10.3205/22ebm008, urn:nbn:de:0183-22ebm0086

Published: August 30, 2022

© 2022 Wolf et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Outline

Text

Background/research question: Individuals of all ages and with all degrees of severity of the SARS-Cov-2 infection can suffer from persisting or reappearing symptoms also called long COVID. Long COVID involves a wide range of symptoms, such as shortness of breath, fatigue, olfactory and gustatory disturbances or organ damages in severe cases. Due to the growing number of long COVID cases, it not only places a burden on the patients but also the wider economy and hence, has gained more weight in political decisions. The present systematic review aimed to support preparations in the long COVID healthcare planning by giving an overview of recommendations about possible long COVID healthcare pathways for adult patients.

Methods: A systematic search in four databases and biweekly update-hand searches were conducted. Next to guidelines and reviews, expert opinions in the form of consensus statements or clinical perspectives were also taken into account to not overlook any potentially relevant information. Data were extracted into specially designed extraction tables and subsequently narratively summarised.

Results: In total, 14 references including five guidelines, four reviews, one consensus paper and four clinical perspectives were included. The literature recommended that the majority of long COVID-related healthcare should take place in primary care. Patients with complex symptoms are advised to be referred to so-called specialised long COVID outpatient assessment clinics, while patients with one dominant symptom should be referred to the respective specialist for a second assessment. Depending on the patients' needs further referral options include e.g. rehabilitation or non-medical healthcare services. Self-management and good communication between healthcare professionals and patients present further crucial aspects of the long COVID management recommendations.

Conclusion: The quality of the included guidelines and reviews is limited in its methodological quality due to the novelty of this topic and the associated urgency for research. Hence, an update with more rigorous data and for applying processes of guideline development that fulfil the methodological standards is recommended. Furthermore, the systematic collection of real-world data on long COVID surveillance need to be set up in the near future to gather further information on the duration and severity of long COVID and thereby facilitate long COVID care planning.

Competing interests: Both authors declare no conflict of interests.