LOCUS: LOng Covid – Understanding Symptoms, events and use of services in Portugal

COVID-19 pandemic challenged the world with vaccination shedding hope to its end. However, an estimated 10% of COVID-19 patients experience persisting physical and mental symptoms following the acute phase. Changes to respiratory and cardiac function have also been described. This poorly characterised phenomenon has been named Long COVID.

The general objective is to describe the epidemiology of long COVID in Portugal, including to estimate its frequency and risk factors in both hospitalised and community-based COVID-19 cases and understand the experiences of Long COVID patients. It’s expected to contribute to the knowledge of Long COVID epidemiology and the subjective experience of Long COVID patients, thus supporting recommendations regarding organisation of healthcare services.