UK LLC - COVID-19: Are immune-mediated diseases risk factors for long COVID?
Study code
DAA096
Lead researcher
Dylan Williams
Study type
Data only
Institution or company
University College London
Researcher type
Academic
Speciality area
Infection, Public Health and Prevention, COVID
Summary
[The NIHR BioResource contributes to a major national study of the long-term impacts of COVID-19, through the UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration.]
The predisposing factors responsible for individuals developing prolonged duration of COVID-19 symptoms over several months (long COVID) are unknown, but exaggerated inflammatory and autoimmune responses have been proposed as key determinants. Individuals suffering from chronic inflammatory disorders, including atopic conditions and autoimmune diseases, have heightened risk of developing other inflammatory diseases, phenomena known as autoimmune and atopic diatheses. People with a history of atopic and/or autoimmune diseases might also have an increased liability for long COVID following SARS-CoV-2 infection if immune dysregulation is in part or wholly responsible for protracted symptomatology. However, associations between chronic inflammatory diseases and long COVID risk have not been studied rigorously in epidemiological settings
to date.