Prevalence of Long COVID-19 and its Impact on Quality of Life Among Outpatients With Mild COVID-19 Disease at Tertiary Care Center in North India. (August 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sarda, Radhika; Kumar, Arvind; Chandra, Ankit; Bir, Megha; Kumar, Sanchit; Soneja, Manish; Sinha, Sanjeev; Wig, Naveet
• Is Part Of: Journal of patient experience. Volume 9(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-08
• Subjects: COVID-19 -- fatigue -- long COVID-19 -- prolonged -- quality of life -- sequelae; Patient satisfaction -- Periodicals; Patient satisfaction -- United States -- Periodicals; Patient participation -- Periodicals; Patient participation -- United States -- Periodicals; Patient satisfaction; Patient participation; United States; 362.1068
• DOI: 10.1177/23743735221117358
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2374-3735

Abstract

Literature is lacking on the spectrum of symptoms of long COVID-19 (defined as symptoms persisting beyond 28 days of diagnosis) and its impact on quality of life. This single-center, cross-sectional study included mild COVID-19 cases as determined by a positive real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test. Patients were contacted at least 28 days after diagnosis and were interviewed telephonically using semi-structured questionnaires for duration of symptoms, fatigue using Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and quality of life using the World Health Organization Quality of Life: Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF). A total of 251 COVID-19 patients were included; of which 169 (67.3%) were males. The mean age of the patients was 35.8 years (SD = 12.5). The prevalence of long COVID-19 was 28.2% (n = 71, 95% CI: 23.0–34.2). The most common symptoms involved the musculoskeletal system (12.7%), upper respiratory tract (7.6%), and fatigue among 17 (6.8%) patients. Patients with long COVID-19 had significantly higher FSS score and lower WHOQOL-BREF score compared to the patients without long COVID-19 (<28 days).