SARS-CoV-2 reinfection is preceded by unique biomarkers and related to initial infection timing and severity: An N3C RECOVER EHR-based cohort study

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Published

January 2023

Journal

medRxiv

Abstract

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has persisted for over 2 years, reinfections with SARS-CoV-2 are not well understood. We use the electronic health record (EHR)-based study cohort from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) as part of the NIH Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative to characterize reinfection, understand development of Long COVID after reinfection, and compare severity of reinfection with initial infection. We validate previous findings of reinfection incidence (5.9%), the occurrence of most reinfections during the Omicron epoch, and evidence of multiple reinfections. We present novel findings that Long COVID diagnoses occur closer to the index date for infection or reinfection in the Omicron BA epoch. We report lower albumin levels leading up to reinfection and a statistically significant association of severity between first infection and reinfection (chi-squared value: 9446.2, p-value: 0) with a medium effect size (Cramer's V: 0.18, DoF = 4).

Authors

Emily Hadley, Yun Jae Yoo, Saaya Patel, Andrea Zhou, Bryan Laraway, Rachel Wong, Alexander Preiss, Rob Chew, Hannah Davis, Christopher G Chute, Emily R Pfaff, Johanna Loomba, Melissa Haendel, Elaine Hill, Richard Moffitt; N3C and RECOVER consortia On behalf of the N3C and RECOVER consortia

Keywords

Not available