A study, Acute and postacute sequelae associated with SARS-CoV-2 reinfection was published in 2022. There was one very alarming graph in it, but it is plotted on a log scale and probably doesn’t help people understand the risks of multiple COVID infections. I suspect that was done to make the graph fit on the printed page.
I decided to take each of these and plot them in a way that will make more sense to people. I decided to go with the percentage risk of each complication by the number of infections. The black bars on each are the 95% confidence intervals. The specific sequela that were assessed in each category are listed as bullet points.
It is worth emphasizing that these are the risks within one year of the last infection. Given that many of these represent chronic disease conditions, it seems that the risks of many of them will only increase over time, even without subsequent COVID infections.
In addition, many of these seem to follow early exponential curves. It would be very interesting to see what this data looks like after even more infections.
Finally, while this data comes from veterans and is skewed older and male, there is no reason to think that this wouldn’t apply to others as well, particularly the increased risk percentages of each subsequent infection.
Hospitalization
Chance of One Sequela
Cardiovascular Sequela
- Tachycardia
- Bradycardia
- Ventricular arrhythmias
- Atrial fibrillation
- Atrial flutter
- Pericarditis
- Myocarditis
- Acute coronary disease
- Angina
- Myocardial infarction
- Ischemic cardiomyopathy
- Heart failure
- Non-ischemic cardiomyopathy
- Cardiac arrest
- Cardiogenic shock
Coagulation and Hematologic
- Pulmonary embolism
- Deep vein thrombosis
- Venous thromboembolism
- Anemia
Diabetes
- HBa1c >6.4
- Diabetes diagnosis
- Antihyperglycemic use
Fatigue
Gastrointestinal
- Liver disease
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
- Constipation
- Hepatic failure
- Portal hypertension
- Hepatic vascular disease
- Hepatic fibrosis/cirrhosis
- Acute gastritis
- Peptic ulcer disease
- Functional dyspepsia
- Acute mesenteric ischemia
- Perianal venous thrombosis
- Malabsorption
- Diarrhea
- Abdominal pain
- Vomiting
- Hematemesis
- Melena
- Cholelithiasis
- Cholecystitis
- Cholangitis
- Acute pancreatitis
- Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency
- Ulcerative colitis
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Gastroparesis
- Paralytic ileus
- Neurogenic bowel
- Appendicitis
- Bloating
Kidney
- Acute kidney injury
- Chronic kidney disease
Mental Health
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Mixed anxiety disorder
- Panic Disorder
- MDD- single episode
- MDD – recurrent
- Suicidal ideation
- Acute stress and adjustment disorder
- Post traumatic stress disorder
- SSRI
- SNRI
- Other antidepressant medications
- Benzodiazepines
- Opiod prescription
- Opioid use disorder
- Naloxone/ naltrexone
- Methadone
- Buprenorphine
- Illicit drug disorder
- Nicotine use
- Alcohol use disorder
- Sedative/hypnotics use disorder
- Neurocognitive decline
- Sleep disorders
- Sleep medications
Musculoskeletal
- Joint pain
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Myalgias
- Myopathy
Neurologic
- Transient cerebral ischemic attack (TIA)
- Central Venous thrombosis
- Transverse myelitis
- Stroke
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Memory problems
- Paresthesias
- Mononeuropathy of the extremities
- Polyneuropathy
- Dysautonomia
- Disorders of the facial nerves
- Migraine
- Epilepsy and seizures
- Headache disorders
- Abnormal involuntary movements
- Tremor
- Parkinsons-like disease
- Dystonia
- Myclonus
- Loss of hearing
- Vision abnormalities
- Loss of smell
- Loss of taste
- Dizziness
- Somnolence
- Guillian barre syndrome
- Encephalitis
Pulmonary
- Shortness of breath
- Cough
- Hypoxemia
- Interstitial lung disease
