Publication date: Sep 01, 2025
In Autumn 2022, a surge in upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) was observed worldwide. Individuals anecdotally reported increased URTIs in the months following their coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The objective was to assess if COVID-19 is associated with a higher incidence of URTI in adults in the following months. “RECOVER” is a prospective cohort of health care workers (HCWs) from Montreal, Canada. HCWs completed biweekly surveys to report incident COVID-like symptoms. We included HCWs actively followed up for ≥90 days, between December 1, 2021, and December 31, 2022. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections were confirmed via reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction/antigenic testing. Non-COVID-19 URTI cases were defined as new onset of fever/sensation of fever, rhinitis, nasal congestion, sore throat/pharyngitis, sneezing, coughing, wheezing, difficulty breathing, increased respiratory secretions, or change in characteristics of chronic secretions, excluding symptoms within 48 hours of vaccination. Time-dependent Cox regression was used to assess the association between recent COVID-19 and URTI, adjusting for sex, age, workplace, household children
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| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Canada | COVID-19 |
| Coronavirus | epidemiology |
| Sneezing | |
| Workplace |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
| disease | MESH | Upper Respiratory Tract Infections |
| disease | MESH | infections |
| disease | MESH | rhinitis |
| disease | MESH | sore throat |
| disease | MESH | Infectious Diseases |
| disease | MESH | Immune Diseases |
| disease | IDO | infection |
| disease | MESH | asthma |
| pathway | KEGG | Asthma |
| pathway | REACTOME | Reproduction |
| disease | MESH | morbidity |
| disease | MESH | influenza |
| disease | MESH | syndrome |
| pathway | REACTOME | Immune System |
| disease | MESH | RSV infection |
| disease | MESH | recurrence |
| disease | MESH | reinfection |
| disease | IDO | history |
| disease | IDO | blood |
| disease | MESH | Nosocomial Infection |
| disease | IDO | symptom |
| disease | MESH | allergies |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Sodium lauryl sulfate |
| disease | MESH | graft vs host disease |
| disease | IDO | cell |
| disease | MESH | otitis media |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Coenzyme M |
| disease | MESH | long COVID |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Sulfasalazine |
| disease | MESH | viral load |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Elm |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Diethylstilbestrol |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Carboxyamidotriazole |
| disease | IDO | process |
| disease | MESH | complications |