{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]],"date-time":"2026-03-19T03:28:29Z","timestamp":1773890909856,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,18]],"date-time":"2025-12-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1766016000000},"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>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>At the end of 2022, an outbreak of the Omicron BF.7 and BA.5.2 subvariants of SARS-CoV-2 occurred in China. In this prospective cohort study, we investigated the pattern of development of major symptom burden and influencing factors in infected Chinese patients.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      First-time infected outpatients were enrolled from December 7, 2022, to January 11, 2023 (\n                      <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f355). The prevalence of symptoms was monitored by a repeated patient-reported quantitative symptom survey over nine months.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      At the onset of the infection, the most prevalent symptoms (score \u22651 on a 0\u201310 numeric rating scale) were fatigue (91.8%), cough (91.8%), and sore throat (91.5%) among 33 symptoms monitored. Patients with higher scores for symptom Cluster II (lack of appetite, disturbed sleep, shivering, drowsiness, sweating, nausea, depression, and anxiety) and symptom cluster V (fatigue, sore throat, dry mouth, and dizziness) reported poorer quality of life than other patients during the first month after enrolment. The most severe symptoms (score\u22657) lasted during 3\u20139\u202fmonths were depression (5.2%), fatigue (4.8%), anxiety (4.8%), runny nose (4.3%), muscle or joint pain (3.3%), nasal congestion (3.0%), disturbed sleep(2.6%). Younger age, female sex, and body mass index of at least 24\u202fkg\/m\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      predicted more severe baseline symptoms and slower resolution (all\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.01).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This cohort study identified patterns and characteristics of symptom evolution in outpatients at 9\u202fmonths post-COVID-19 diagnosis and provides targets for long-term care.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1702599","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,18]],"date-time":"2025-12-18T06:44:25Z","timestamp":1766040265000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Long-term symptom burden in a young, ambulatory cohort after the omicron outbreak in 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