Chapter 6 182 Group-based trajectories of long COVID symptoms and their determinants Four trajectories of long COVID symptoms were identified (Figure 1), totalling an average of approximately 0 (i.e., no long COVID symptoms; Trajectory 1, 24.8% of study participants), 2 (Trajectory 2, 44.6%), 4 (Trajectory 3, 21.6%), or 7-8 symptoms (Trajectory 4, 8.9%) over time. Although minor fluctuation of the number of symptoms reported was observed, the overall course of symptoms was stable for each trajectory. In Trajectory 4 (highest number of symptoms, smallest proportion of participants), an increase in the mean total number of long COVID symptoms in the first year was followed by a decrease in the second year. Participants belonging to Trajectory 4 were more often female (p<0.001) and less frequently had university-level education (p=0.025) compared to participants belonging to other trajectories (Table 2). A posteriori probabilities of belonging to each trajectory group are shown in Supplementary Figure S2. Figure 1. Group-based trajectories based on mean total number of long COVID symptoms reported at 2-24 months after illness onset, adjusted for age (years), sex, BMI category and timing of infection (first wave vs. subsequent waves) Long COVID symptoms were defined as those developing within 1 month of overall illness onset, in order to exclude sporadic symptoms that were less likely to be attributed to the consequences of COVID-19. Central shape denotes mean number of symptoms; dashed lines represent the 95% confidence interval. Percentages in legend show the proportion of study participants belonging to the trajectory.
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