{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T20:19:48Z","timestamp":1772137188140,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"AIP Publishing","issue":"2","funder":[{"name":"Collaborative Research Grant of the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong","award":["C7154-20GF"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["C7154-20GF"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["pubs.aip.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) poses a significant health challenge in the post-pandemic world. However, the underlying biological mechanisms of PASC remain intricate and elusive. Network-based methods can leverage electronic health record data and biological knowledge to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on PASC and uncover the underlying biological mechanisms. This study analyzed territory-wide longitudinal electronic health records (from January 1, 2020 to August 31, 2022) of 50\u2009296 COVID-19 patients and a healthy non-exposed group of 100\u2009592 individuals to determine the impact of COVID-19 on disease progression, provide molecular insights, and identify associated biomarkers. We constructed a comorbidity network and performed disease-protein mapping and protein\u2013protein interaction network analysis to reveal the impact of COVID-19 on disease trajectories. Results showed disparities in prevalent disease comorbidity patterns, with certain patterns exhibiting a more pronounced influence by COVID-19. Overlapping proteins elucidate the biological mechanisms of COVID-19's impact on each comorbidity pattern, and essential proteins can be identified based on their weights. Our findings can help clarify the biological mechanisms of COVID-19, discover intervention methods, and decode the molecular basis of comorbidity associations, while also yielding potential biomarkers and corresponding treatments for specific disease progression patterns.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0250923","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,20]],"date-time":"2025-02-20T11:51:23Z","timestamp":1740052283000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1063\/aip-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Deciphering the molecular mechanism of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 through comorbidity network analysis"],"prefix":"10.1063","volume":"35","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-7958-0526","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lue","family":"Tian","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Data Science, City University of Hong Kong 1 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Eric","family":"Wan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong 2 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, School of Clinical Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong 3 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health 4 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sze Ling","family":"Celine Chui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health 4 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]},{"name":"School of Nursing, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong 5 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]},{"name":"School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong 6 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shirely","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong 2 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health 4 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong 7 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7602-9470","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Esther","family":"Chan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong 2 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health 4 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hao","family":"Luo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong 8 , Hong Kong,","place":["China"]},{"name":"School of Public Health Sciences, The University of Waterloo 9 , Waterloo, Ontario N2L3G1,","place":["Canada"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ian C. 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