{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,29]],"date-time":"2026-01-29T16:30:30Z","timestamp":1769704230237,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,29]],"date-time":"2026-01-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769644800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic has left lasting effects that extend beyond the acute phase of infection, with increasing evidence of long-term health consequences. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of post-COVID symptoms and conditions and to identify associated risk factors, including pre-existing chronic diseases, COVID-19 vaccination status, and severity of acute infection.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in 10 family medicine practices in Croatia. The data collected from medical records included demographics, COVID-19 vaccination status, SARS-CoV-2 infection history and severity, and documented health conditions before and after infection. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Group differences were analyzed using the independent samples\n                      <jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic>\n                      -test or \u03c7\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      test. Variables significant in univariate analyses (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.05) were included into multivariate regression models. Multiple linear regression was used to identify predictors of COVID-19 severity, and binary logistic regression was applied to determine factors associated with post-COVID conditions. Results are presented as regression coefficients (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      ) or odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). A\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      -value &amp;lt; 0.05 was considered statistically significant.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The study included 1,423 participants (58.0% female; mean age 52.6\u202f\u00b1\u202f17.2\u202fyears), of whom 82.4% had confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and 32.3% were unvaccinated. At least one chronic disease was present in 28.1% of participants. The most frequently reported post-COVID conditions were brain fog (4.9%), neurological disorders (4.7%), cardiovascular diseases (2.9%), shortness of breath (2.8%), obesity (2.7%) and mental health disorders (2.6%). Greater COVID-19 severity was independently associated with pulmonary disease (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.22;\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.031) and older age, particularly 51\u201365\u202fyears (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.31;\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001) and \u226566\u202fyears (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.50;\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001). COVID-19 vaccination was associated with milder disease (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f\u22120.21;\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001). Previous cardiovascular and musculoskeletal diseases significantly increased the risk of thromboembolism. Diabetes, obesity, and number of vaccine doses were predictors of brain fog, while neurological comorbidities predicted post-COVID mental health disorders.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Post-COVID symptoms and conditions represent an important long-term public health challenge. Family medicine physicians play a key role in early recognition, monitoring, and management of post-COVID sequelae, contributing to improved long-term patient outcomes.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2026.1740432","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,29]],"date-time":"2026-01-29T05:23:27Z","timestamp":1769664207000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Long-term health effects of COVID-19 among patients in Croatian primary care settings"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Branislava","family":"Popovi\u0107","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]},{"name":"Family Medicine Practice Branislava Popovi\u0107","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ana","family":"Lesac Brizi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]},{"name":"Community Health Centre Primorsko Goranska County","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Aleksandar","family":"Ljubotina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]},{"name":"Family Medicine Practice Aleksandar Ljubotina","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tina","family":"Zavidi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]},{"name":"Istrian Health Centres","place":["Pazin, Croatia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Vedrana","family":"Tudor \u0160palj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]},{"name":"Community Health Centre Primorsko Goranska County","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Roberta","family":"Markovi\u0107 \u0160timac","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]},{"name":"Primary Health Care Institution Srdo\u010di","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Martina","family":"Fi\u0161i\u0107 Jurkovi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]},{"name":"Community Health Centre Primorsko Goranska County","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nina","family":"Ba\u0161i\u0107 Markovi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]},{"name":"Primary Health Care Institution Srdo\u010di","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ines","family":"Dimini\u0107 Lisica","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]},{"name":"Health Institution dr. Ines Dimini\u0107 Lisica","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jasna","family":"Vu\u010dak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]},{"name":"Family Medicine Practice Jasna Vu\u010dak","place":["Suko\u0161an, Croatia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nives","family":"Rado\u0161evi\u0107 Quadranti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]},{"name":"Community Health Centre Primorsko Goranska County","place":["Rijeka, Croatia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"416","DOI":"10.1038\/s41392-023-01640-z","article-title":"The long-term health outcomes, pathophysiological mechanisms and multidisciplinary management of long COVID","volume":"8","author":"Li","year":"2023","journal-title":"Signal Transduct Target Ther"},{"key":"ref2","year":"2021"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1746","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMsb2408466","article-title":"National Academies of sciences, engineering, and medicine committee on examining the working definition for long Covid. 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