A large Danish population study has identified two features which are significantly associated with a higher risk for developing long COVID symptoms among individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

People with Crohn′s disease (CD) who experienced adverse acute COVID-19 (requiring hospitalization) had around three-fold higher likelihood of reporting persistent symptoms 12 weeks following acute infection. 

Investigators also noted that people with ulcerative colitis (UC) who discontinued the use of immunosuppressive agents due to COVID-19 had 1.5-fold higher odds of developing long COVID symptoms. They evaluated 197 individuals with CD and 319 with UC, all with confirmed COVID-19 infection. Participants were prospectively enrolled in the population-based Danish IBD-COVID registry from January 28, 2020 through April 1, 2021. At a median of 5.1 months, 85 people with CD and 137 with UC agreed to report post-COVID symptoms. Older age, IBD disease activity, smoking, and comorbidities were not tied to a significantly increased risk of long COVID. A multivariate analysis revealed that hospitalization for COVID-19 among people with CD had a significant association with long COVID (odds ratio [OR] 2.76). Those having UC who stopped taking immunosuppressive drugs also appeared to have a significantly higher risk (OR 1.50)… (Medscape)