SARS-CoV-2 is a virus of the coronavirus family, which includes a large number of viruses that can cause a wide variety of diseases in humans. The SARS-CoV-2 virus causes acute symptoms associated with the infection and can cause chronic conditions known as Post-COVID. To understand how the virus might effect the working of the Immune system a large observational study of health insurance data from Germany was set up. The exposed patients were identified by a diagnosis indicating a confirmed laboratory test for COVID-19.~The basic question concerns the burden of the Post-COVID condition. The study investigate which autoimmune diseases or groups of autoimmune diseases are more common in humans after the exposure to the virus compared to a matched unexposed cohort. Further will this be investigated in subgroups of the population.
The SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2) infection was in 2020 responsible for new disease related chronic conditions which have been referred to as Post-COVID. To date it is still unknown how common this condition is and how it might effect the working of the Immune system. The aim of the study is therefore to monitor the onset of autoimmune diseases in a large observational study consisting of German health insurance data.