The following is a summary of “Prevalence of covid-19 and long covid in collegiate student athletes from spring 2020 to fall 2021: a retrospective survey,” published in the December 2023 issue of Infectious Disease by Massey et al.

While young and healthy, student-athletes haven’t been spared the shadow of COVID-19 and its lingering effects (PASC). This study dives into the prevalence of the initial infection and Long COVID among them.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study investigating the detective’s hat, sifting through data from 18 U.S. colleges to uncover the true scope of COVID-19, its symptoms, and its long-term effects on student-athletes (2020 to 2021).

They created an online survey to assess the prevalence of student-athletes testing positive for COVID-19, experiencing Long COVID, and not resuming their sport in the relevant time frame. A survey was performed with a convenience sample of 18 school administrators from collegiate institutions, representing around 7,000 student-athletes. Sixteen schools responded for the spring 2020 semester and eighteen for the entire academic year from fall 2020 to spring 2021.

The results showed that 9.8% of student-athletes tested positive for COVID-19 in spring 2020, which increased to 25.4% for the academic year (2020 to spring 2021). Approximately 4% of student-athletes testing positive from spring 2020 to spring 2021 developed long-term COVID-19, defined as up-to-date, recurring, or ongoing physical or mental health consequences (4 or more weeks) after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Investigators concluded that young athletes, though fit, weren’t spared from Long COVID’s reach. Further research is crucial to untangle its prevalence and impact.

Source: bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-023-08801-z