{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]],"date-time":"2026-05-20T17:21:41Z","timestamp":1779297701546,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,26]],"date-time":"2025-06-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1750896000000},"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. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a global pandemic affecting millions worldwide. This study aims to bridge the knowledge gap between acute and chronic symptoms, vaccination impact, and associated factors in patients across different low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Materials and methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>The study included 2,445 participants aged 18\u202fyears and older, testing positive for COVID-19. Data collection involved screening for medical histories, testing records, symptomatology, and persistent symptoms. Validated instruments, including the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire (DSQ-2) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), were used. We applied a self-supervised and unsupervised deep neural network to extract features from the questionnaire. Gradient boosted machines (GBM) model was used to build a risk calculator for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), depression, and prolonged COVID-19 symptoms.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Out of the study cohort, 68.1% of the patients had symptoms lasting longer than 2\u202fweeks. The most frequent symptoms were loss of smell (46.8%), dry cough (40.1%), loss of taste (37.8%), headaches (37.2%), and sore throat (28.9%). The patients also reported high rates of depression (47.7%), chronic fatigue (6.5%), and infection after vaccination (23.7%). Factors associated with CFS included sex, age, and smoking. Vaccinated individuals demonstrated lower odds of experiencing prolonged COVID-19 symptoms, CFS, and depression. The predictive models achieved a high area under the curve (AUC) scores of 0.87, 0.82, and 0.74, respectively.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>The findings underscore the significant burden of long-term symptoms such as chronic fatigue and depression, affecting a considerable proportion of individuals post-infection. Moreover, the study reveals promising insights into the potential benefits of vaccination in mitigating the risk of prolonged COVID-19 symptoms, CFS, and depression. Overall, this research contributes valuable knowledge towards comprehensive management and prevention efforts amidst the ongoing global pandemic.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Clinical trial registration<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:uri>Clinical trials.gov<\/jats:uri>, <jats:uri>NCT05059184<\/jats:uri>.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1416273","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,26]],"date-time":"2025-06-26T05:29:39Z","timestamp":1750915779000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Deep learning analysis of long COVID and vaccine impact in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): development of a risk calculator in a multicentric study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Ahmed","family":"Shaheen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nour","family":"Shaheen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Long COVID Collaboration Study Group in the LMICs","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sheikh","family":"Shoib","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fahimeh","family":"Saeed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mudathiru","family":"Buhari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Vishal","family":"Bharmauria","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Oliver","family":"Flouty","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"713","DOI":"10.15585\/mmwr.mm7121e1","article-title":"Post\u2013COVID conditions among adult COVID-19 survivors aged 18\u201364 and \u226565 years \u2014 United States, march 2020\u2013November 2021","volume":"71","author":"Bull-Otterson","year":"2022","journal-title":"MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bbi.2021.12.020","article-title":"Fatigue and cognitive impairment in post-COVID-19 syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"101","author":"Ceban","year":"2022","journal-title":"Brain Behav Immun"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"133","DOI":"10.1038\/s41579-022-00846-2","article-title":"Long COVID: major findings, mechanisms and recommendations","volume":"21","author":"Davis","year":"2023","journal-title":"Nat Rev Microbiol"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"ofac464","DOI":"10.1093\/ofid\/ofac464","article-title":"Risk of long COVID in people infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 after 2 doses of a coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine: community-based, matched cohort study","volume":"9","author":"Ayoubkhani","year":"2022","journal-title":"Open Forum Infect Dis"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1461","DOI":"10.1038\/s41591-022-01840-0","article-title":"Long COVID after breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection","volume":"28","author":"Al-Aly","year":"2022","journal-title":"Nat Med"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"452","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(22)01214-4","article-title":"Persistence of somatic symptoms after COVID-19 in the Netherlands: an observational cohort study","volume":"400","author":"Ballering","year":"2022","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref7","first-page":"194","article-title":"Pathological sequelae of long-haul COVID","volume-title":"Nat Immunol","author":"Mehandru","year":"2022"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3887","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2020-043887","article-title":"What is the recovery rate and risk of long-term consequences following a diagnosis of COVID-19? 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