Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis Correlates With Long COVID-19 at One-Year After Discharge
Dongmei Zhang, Yaya Zhou, Yanling Ma, Ping Chen, Jian Tang, Bohan Yang, Hui Li, Mengyuan Liang, YuE Xue, Yao Liu, Jianchu Zhang, Xiaorong Wang
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Long coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in recovered patients (RPs) is gradually recognized by more people. However, how long it will last and the underlining mechanism remains unclear. METHODS: We conducted a prospective follow-up study to evaluate the long-term symptoms and clinical indices of RPs at one-year after discharge from Union Hospital, Wuhan, China between December 2020 to May 2021. We also performed the 16S rRNA sequencing of stool samples from RPs and healthy controls (HCs) and analyzed the correlation between the gut microbiota and long COVID-19. RESULTS: showed decreasing tendencies between HCs, the asymptomatic group, and the symptomatic group. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the presence of long COVID-19 which correlates with gut microbiota dysbiosis in RPs at one-year after discharge, indicating gut microbiota may play an important role in long COVID-19.