Persistent Symptoms of Coronavirus Disease 2019 after Passing Acute Infection
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- Category: Vol. 89, September 2021
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Persistent Symptoms of Coronavirus Disease 2019 after Passing Acute Infection, HOUSSAM ELDIN H. ABD ELNABY and MOSTAFA A.R. HUSSEIN
Abstract
Background: Although the acute symptoms of COVID-19 have been widely described, the longer-term effects are less well known because of the relatively short history of the pandemic. Theories attributed those symptoms to chronic inflammation (fatigue), sequelae of organ damage (pulmonary fibrosis and chronic kidney disease) and hospitalization and social isolation (muscle wasting and malnutrition). Aim of Study: The study aimed at determining the fre-quency of persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms among sur-vived COVID-19 patients, clarifying the relation between this frequency and the degree of disease severity and spotlighting some of the factors that might influence it. Patients and Methods: This case control study was carried out during the period from March 2021 to June 2021. It included 103 subjects from the medical staff of Bab Al-Sha'reia University Hospital and their relatives, diagnosed 13-16 weeks ago to have COVID-19 infection by positive reverse transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt RT-PCR) test in their respiratory tract swabs. They were communicated either directly or through phone. Forty sex, age and body mass index (BMI) matching individuals, chosen from the medical staff of the hospital, with no history sug-gesting COVID-19 infection, tested negative for COVID-19 IgG and IgM by rapid test, served as a control group. Results: The frequency of persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms among COVID-19 survivors was 41.75%. Fatigue was the most frequently reported symptom (38.83%), followed by dyspnoea and musculoskeletal pain (25.24%). Fatigue, headache, musculoskeletal aches, cough and dyspnoea were significantly more frequent among hospitalized subjects compared with home-managed ones. Dyspnoea was the only symptom to show a significant frequency among ICU individ-uals (p-value=0.015). As well, statistically significant higher BMI and prolonged duration of hospital stay were reported among individuals managed in the ICU when compared with the ward participants. Patients with post-COVID syndrome (PCS) were significantly older than non-symptomatic individ-uals (p-value <0.0001), with higher rates of co-morbidities (p-value=0.001). Hypertension was the only co-morbidity that reported a discrete significant higher frequency among post-COVID-19 patients (p-value=0.003). Hospitalization,
length of hospital stay, requiring oxygen therapy and receiving either NIV or MV were all significantly linked to the devel-oping of persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms. Conclusion: Persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms are common among COVID-19 survivors. Older patients and those with co-morbidities (especially hypertension) are more liable to have PCS. Many factors including hospital admission, longer hospital stay, the need for oxygen therapy, NIV or MV are associated with persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms.