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Effect of COVID-19 Vaccines on Reducing the Risk of Long COVID in the Real World: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Author

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  • Peng Gao

    (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Xueyuan Road No. 38, Haidian District, Beijing 100191, China)

  • Jue Liu

    (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Xueyuan Road No. 38, Haidian District, Beijing 100191, China
    Institute for Global Health and Development, Peking University, Yiheyuan Road No. 5, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, China)

  • Min Liu

    (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Xueyuan Road No. 38, Haidian District, Beijing 100191, China)

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is still in a global pandemic state. Some studies have reported that COVID-19 vaccines had a protective effect against long COVID. However, the conclusions of the studies on the effect of COVID-19 vaccines on long COVID were not consistent. This study aimed to systematically review relevant studies in the real world, and performed a meta-analysis to explore the relationship between vaccination and long COVID. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of science, and ScienceDirect from inception to 19 September 2022. The PICO (P: patients; I: intervention; C: comparison; O: outcome) was as follows: patients diagnosed with COVID-19 (P); vaccination with COVID-19 vaccines (I); the patients were divided into vaccinated and unvaccinated groups (C); the outcomes were the occurrence of long COVID, as well as the various symptoms of long COVID (O). A fixed-effect model and random-effects model were chosen based on the heterogeneity between studies in order to pool the effect value. The results showed that the vaccinated group had a 29% lower risk of developing long COVID compared with the unvaccinated group (RR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.58–0.87, p < 0.01). Compared with patients who were not vaccinated, vaccination showed its protective effect in patients vaccinated with two doses (RR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.74–0.94, p < 0.01), but not one dose (RR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.65–1.07, p = 0.14). In addition, vaccination was effective against long COVD in patients either vaccinated before SARS-CoV-2 infection/COVID-19 (RR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.74–0.91, p < 0.01) or vaccinated after SARS-CoV-2 infection/COVID-19 (RR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.74–0.92, p < 0.01). For long COVID symptoms, vaccination reduced the risk of cognitive dysfunction/symptoms, kidney diseases/problems, myalgia, and sleeping disorders/problems sleeping. Our study shows that COVID-19 vaccines had an effect on reducing the risk of long COVID in patients vaccinated before or after SARS-CoV-2 infection/COVID-19. We suggest that the vaccination rate should be improved as soon as possible, especially for a complete vaccination course. There should be more studies to explore the basic mechanisms of the protective effect of COVID-19 vaccines on long COVID in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Peng Gao & Jue Liu & Min Liu, 2022. "Effect of COVID-19 Vaccines on Reducing the Risk of Long COVID in the Real World: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-12, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12422-:d:929072
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Lucrezia Ginevra Lulli & Antonio Baldassarre & Annarita Chiarelli & Antonella Mariniello & Diana Paolini & Maddalena Grazzini & Nicola Mucci & Giulio Arcangeli, 2023. "Physical Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Population of Italian Healthcare Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Mateusz Ciski & Krzysztof Rząsa, 2023. "Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression in the Investigation of Local COVID-19 Anomalies Based on Population Age Structure in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-23, May.
    3. Ramalingam Shanmugam & Karan P. Singh, 2025. "A New Measure for an Acceptable Level of Homogeneity in Meta-Informatics," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-17, April.
    4. Merrill Singer & Nicola Bulled, 2024. "Long Covid: A Syndemics Approach to Understanding and Response," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 811-834, April.
    5. Janet L. Larson & Weijiao Zhou & Philip T. Veliz & Sheree Smith, 2023. "Symptom Clusters in Adults with Post-COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Survey," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 32(8), pages 1071-1080, November.

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