Persistent COVID-19 symptoms at least one month after diagnosis: a national survey

Tleyjeh, Imad M., Kashour, Tarek, Riaz, Muhammad ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5512-1745, Amer, Samar A., AlSwaidan, Nourah, Almutairi, Laila, Halwani, Rabih and Assiri, Abdullah 2022. Persistent COVID-19 symptoms at least one month after diagnosis: a national survey. Journal of Infection and Public Health 15 (5) , pp. 578-585. 10.1016/j.jiph.2022.04.006

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Abstract

Background Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS) is an important healthcare burden. We examined persistent symptoms in COVID-19 patients at least four weeks after the onset of infection, participants’ return to pre-COVID-19 health status and associated risk factors. Methods Cross-sectional study was conducted (December 2020 to January 2021). A validated online questionnaire was sent to randomly selected individuals aged more than 14 years from a total of 1397,386 people confirmed to have COVID-19 at least 4 weeks prior to the start of this survey. This sample was drawn from the Saudi ministry of health COVID-19 testing registry system. Results Out of the 9507 COVID-19 patients who responded to the survey, 5946 (62.5%) of them adequately completed it. 2895 patients (48.7%) were aged 35–44 years, 64.4% were males, and 91.5% were Middle Eastern or North African. 79.4% experienced unresolved symptoms for at least 4 weeks after the disease onset. 9.3% were hospitalized with 42.7% visiting healthcare facility after discharge and 14.3% requiring readmission. The rates of main reported persistent symptoms in descending order were fatigue 53.5%, muscle and body ache 38.2%, loss of smell 35.0%, joint pain 30.5%, and loss of taste 29.1%. There was moderate correlation between the number of symptoms at the onset and post-four weeks of COVID-19 infection. Female sex, pre-existing comorbidities, increased number of baseline symptoms, longer hospital-stay, and hospital readmission were predictors of delayed return to baseline health state (p < 0.05). Conclusion The symptoms of PACS are prevalent after contracting COVID-19 disease. Several risk factors could predict delayed return to baseline health state.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine Centre for Trials Research (CNTRR)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	1876-0341
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	24 May 2022
Date of Acceptance:	17 April 2022
Last Modified:	10 May 2023 11:50
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/149999

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