TABLE 1.
Characteristics for 32 long COVID cases versus 19 healthy controls.
| Mean ± SD, median [IQR] or n (%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthy controls (n = 19) | Long COVID (n = 32) | p‐value | |
| Age [years] | 40 ± 13 | 44 ± 12 | 0.235 |
| Male sex | 6 (32%) | 10 (31%) | 0.981 |
| Ethnicity | |||
| White European | 15 (79%) | 20 (63%) | |
| Indian Asian | 3 (16%) | 7 (22%) | 0.360 |
| Black African Caribbean | 0 (0%) | 4 (12%) | |
| Mixed | 1 (5%) | 1 (3%) | |
| BMI [kg/m2] | 24.9 ± 3.7 | 28.4 ± 5.8 | 0.022 |
| Waist‐to‐hip ratio | 0.82 [0.09] | 0.88 [0.10] | 0.029 |
| Clinic SBP [mmHg] | 119 ± 14 | 124 ± 19 | 0.397 |
| Clinic DBP [mmHg] | 79 ± 11 | 82 ± 13 | 0.495 |
| Resting HR [bpm] | 73 ± 12 | 74 ± 13 | 0.877 |
| Current smoker | 0 (0%) | 2 (6%) | 0.270 |
| No. of comorbidities | 0 | 2 ± 2 | <0.001 |
| No. of long COVID symptoms | 0 | 10 ± 4 | <0.001 |
| Body fat [%] | 28 ± 7 (n = 18) | 34 ± 7 (n = 28) | 0.008 |
| Estimated muscle mass [%] | 69 ± 7 (n = 18) | 62 ± 7 (n = 28) | 0.002 |
| Calf ATT [cm] | 0.61 ± 0.16 (n = 17) | 0.83 ± 0.34 (n = 25) | 0.016 |
Abbreviations: ATT, Adipose tissue thickness; BMI, body mass index; HR, heart rate; SBP & DBP, resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure.