BackgroundPost-acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) syndrome, also known as long COVID, is a prolonged illness after the acute phase of COVID-19. Hospitalized patients were known to have persisting symptoms of fatigue, headache, dyspnea, and anosmia. There is a need to describe the characteristics of individuals with post-COVID-19 symptoms in comparison to the baseline characteristics.PurposeTo investigate the clinical and biochemical characteristics of people who recovered from COVID-19 after 6 months of discharge from the hospital.MethodsThis was a prospective follow-up investigation of hospitalized and discharged COVID-19 patients. Adult patients admitted to King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and discharged were recruited. The baseline demographic information, comorbidities, vital signs and symptoms, laboratory parameters, COVID-19 therapy, and outcomes were collected from the medical records. Blood samples were collected for cytokines estimation. A detailed interview about signs and symptoms was undertaken during the follow-up.ResultsHalf of the followed-up people reported experiencing at least one of the COVID-19-related symptoms. The mean blood pressure was found higher in follow-up. People with the symptoms were characterized by low lymphocyte count, lower serum calcium levels, and hyperglycemia compared to people without any post-COVID-19 symptoms. Cytokines IL-8, VEGF, and MCP-1 were higher in people with the most frequent symptoms.ConclusionPeople with post-COVID-19 symptoms were characterized by lower lymphocyte count, lower serum calcium levels, and hyperglycemia compared to people without symptoms. Individuals with the most frequent post-COVID-19 symptoms had higher baseline pro-inflammatory, chemotactic, and angiogenic cytokines.

Our objective is to study the outcomes and complications of peritoneal dialysis (PD) including comparison of self-care PD with home-care assisted PD during a five-year period. A retrospective study of PD data at King Saud University-affiliated hospital in Riyadh from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2013. One hundred and eleven patients were included (female 55%). The average age was 47.4 (1-83) years. Twenty-one (18.91%) patients were on continuous ambulatory PD and 90 (81.08%) on automated PD. The mean time on PD was 23.5 (3-60) months. At the end of five years, 47 (42.34%) patients were continuing on PD, 12 (10.81%) had renal transplant, 33 (29.73%) patients were transferred to hemodialysis, and two (1.8%) patients were transferred to other centers. Seventeen patients died during this period giving a mortality rate of 7.13 deaths/100 patient-year during the five-year period. Six patients died due to cardiovascular causes, while five had sepsis. There was one death each due to prostate cancer, hyperoxaluria, and toxic epidermal necrolysis. Three patients died suddenly at home. Peritonitis rate was one episode/35.28 patient/month or one episode/2.94 patient/year. We compared the results for patients doing the dialysis themselves [56 (50.45%)] "self-care PD" to 55 (49.5%) patients assisted by a family member or other caregivers "assisted PD." We found no significant difference in the incidence of complications, technical outcome, mortality, and peritonitis episodes. However, we found a high prevalence of diabetes mellitus and significant increase in exit site infection in assisted PD. Our study suggests that PD patients in Saudi Arabia have a good overall outcome. Furthermore, assisted PD showed good patient and technique outcome.

Background COVID-19 is diagnosed using RT-PCR assays of samples from nasal and oropharyngeal swabs. People with negative RT-PCR often presented with clinical manifestations of COVID-19. The data on such patients are lacking. The present study aims to characterize the patients who were suspected COVID-19 cases and tested negative in RT-PCR compared to patients who had been tested RT-PCR positive. Methods This is a retrospective, observational study of adult suspected and confirmed patients of COVID-19 admitted to King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 1st March 2020 until 30th November 2020. Laboratory confirmation is done through nasal/pharyngeal swab specimens, tested positive in RT-PCR assay. Patients with initial negative RT-PCR test results were assessed again within 48-72 h to avoid false-negative results. Patient data were extracted from the electronic medical files of each included patient using a predesigned case report form. Results The study included 488 (80.93%) patients with RT-PCR swab results positive, and 115 (19.07%) patients who were negative. Respiratory rate and diastolic blood pressure were higher among the swab-positive cases. More number of swab-negative patients had comorbidities such as coronary heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and carcinoma. Fever, cough, and shortness of breath were reported higher among the swab-positive cases. ALT and AST, and LDH levels were found higher among RT-PCR-positive patients. Serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen and troponin were more elevated in RT-PCR-negative patients. Antibiotics, anticoagulants, and corticosteroids were used more by swab-positive patients. Significantly higher number of RT-PCR-positive patients required proning, high-flow nasal cannula, non-invasive mechanical ventilation, and invasive mechanical ventilation. Acute cardiac ischemia and death were found to be similar among the patients. However, deaths occurred significantly earlier among the swab-positive cases when compared to the swab-negative group. Conclusion Distinctive symptoms and markers of COVID-19 are more frequent among patients who had RT-PCR-positive results.

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