BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Viral Immunology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1634663
Antiphospholipid antibodies during acute COVID-19 are not associated with long COVID: findings from a retrospective cohort study
Provisionally accepted
- Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Marseille, Marseille, France
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Introduction Long COVID is a public health issue with complex pathophysiology, potentially involving immunoinflammatory and prothrombotic mechanisms. Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) have been observed in acute COVID-19 and speculated to contribute to long COVID development. Our goal was to determine if the presence of aPL was associated with the progression towards long COVID. Methods We retrospectively analyzed all adult patients screened for aPL during acute COVID-19 in our institution between April 2020 and April 2022. Only patients with at least one follow-up ≥3 months post-infection were included. Results Among 114 patients (median age 64.0 years, 44.7% female), 19 (16.7%) developed long COVID. Those with long COVID were younger and more frequently admitted to ICU than those who recovered. However, aPL positivity did not differ significantly between patients with and without long COVID (63.2% vs. 66.3%, p = 0.79). Conclusion Our findings suggest no association between aPL and the development of long COVID. Prior associations may reflect confounding factors such as ICU admission.
Keywords: Antiphospholipid antibodies, pathophysiology, Autoimmunity, Long Covid, Thrombosis
Received: 24 May 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Arcani, Brodovitch, Heim, Mège and Bardin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Robin Arcani, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Marseille, Marseille, France
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