| Title: |
Healthcare utilisation in people with long COVID: an OpenSAFELY cohort study. |
| Authors: |
Lin, Liang-Yu; Henderson, Alasdair D; Carlile, Oliver; Dillingham, Iain; Butler-Cole, Ben FC; Marks, Michael; Briggs, Andrew; Jit, Mark; Tomlinson, Laurie A; Bates, Chris; Parry, John; Bacon, Sebastian CJ; Goldacre, Ben; Mehrkar, Amir; MacKenna, Brian; OpenSAFELY Collaborative; Eggo, Rosalind M; Herrett, Emily |
| Publisher Information: |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
| Publication Year: |
2024 |
| Collection: |
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine: LSHTM Research Online |
| Description: |
BACKGROUND: Long COVID potentially increases healthcare utilisation and costs. However, its impact on the NHS remains to be determined. METHODS: This study aims to assess the healthcare utilisation of individuals with long COVID. With the approval of NHS England, we conducted a matched cohort study using primary and secondary care data via OpenSAFELY, a platform for analysing anonymous electronic health records. The long COVID exposure group, defined by diagnostic codes, was matched with five comparators without long COVID between Nov 2020 and Jan 2023. We compared their total healthcare utilisation from GP consultations, prescriptions, hospital admissions, A&E visits, and outpatient appointments. Healthcare utilisation and costs were evaluated using a two-part model adjusting for covariates. Using a difference-in-difference model, we also compared healthcare utilisation after long COVID with pre-pandemic records. RESULTS: We identified 52,988 individuals with a long COVID diagnosis, matched to 264,867 comparators without a diagnosis. In the 12 months post-diagnosis, there was strong evidence that those with long COVID were more likely to use healthcare resources (OR: 8.29, 95% CI: 7.74-8.87), and have 49% more healthcare utilisation (RR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.48-1.51). Our model estimated that the long COVID group had 30 healthcare visits per year (predicted mean: 29.23, 95% CI: 28.58-29.92), compared to 16 in the comparator group (predicted mean visits: 16.04, 95% CI: 15.73-16.36). Individuals with long COVID were more likely to have non-zero healthcare expenditures (OR = 7.66, 95% CI = 7.20-8.15), with costs being 44% higher than the comparator group (cost ratio = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.39-1.50). The long COVID group costs approximately £2500 per person per year (predicted mean cost: £2562.50, 95% CI: £2335.60-£2819.22), and the comparator group costs £1500 (predicted mean cost: £1527.43, 95% CI: £1404.33-1664.45). Historically, individuals with long COVID utilised healthcare resources more frequently, but their ... |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
text |
| Language: |
English |
| ISSN: |
1741-7015 |
| Relation: |
https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4673121/1/Lin-etal-2024-Healthcare-utilisation-in-people-with-long-COVID.pdf; Lin, Liang-YuORCID logo; Henderson, Alasdair D; Carlile, Oliver ORCID logo; Dillingham, Iain; Butler-Cole, Ben FC; Marks, Michael ORCID logo; Briggs, Andrew ORCID logo; Jit, Mark ORCID logo; Tomlinson, Laurie A ORCID logo; Bates, Chris; +8 more.Parry, John; Bacon, Sebastian CJ; Goldacre, Ben ORCID logo; Mehrkar, Amir; MacKenna, Brian; OpenSAFELY Collaborative; Eggo, Rosalind M ORCID logo; and Herrett, Emily ORCID logo (2024) Healthcare utilisation in people with long COVID: an OpenSAFELY cohort study. BMC medicine, 22 (1). 255-. ISSN 1741-7015 DOI:10.1186/s12916-024-03477-x |
| DOI: |
10.1186/s12916-024-03477-x |
| Availability: |
https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4673121/; https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-024-03477-x |
| Rights: |
cc_by_4 |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.1F8B2479 |
| Database: |
BASE |