The health-related quality of life in patients with post-COVID-19 after hospitalization: a systematic review

Abstract

Symptoms in post-COVID-19 patients who require hospitalization can persist for months, significantly affecting their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Thus, the present study aimed to discuss the main findings regarding HRQoL in post-COVID-19 patients who required hospitalization. An electronic search was performed in the MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, LILACS, and Scopus databases, without date and language restrictions, until July 2021. Twenty-four articles were included in the analysis. It seems that HRQoL partially improved soon after hospital discharge, although the negative impact on HRQoL may persist for months. The physical and mental aspects are affected because patients report pain, discomfort, anxiety, and depression. The HRQoL of COVID-19 infected patients was worse than that of uninfected patients. Additionally, HRQoL seemed worse in patients admitted to the intensive care unit than in those who remained in the ward. Improvements in HRQoL after hospital discharge are independent of imaging improvement, and there seems to be no association between HRQoL after hospital discharge and disease severity on hospital admission. Many factors have been identified as determinants of HRQoL, with women and advanced age being the most related to worse HRQOL, followed by the duration of invasive mechanical ventilation and the need for intensive care. Other factors included the presence and number of comorbidities, lower forced vital capacity, high body mass index, smoking history, undergraduate education, and unemployment. In conclusion, these findings may aid in clinical management and should be considered in the aftercare of patients.

Impact of COVID-19 and Effects of Vaccination with BNT162b2 on Patient-Reported Health-Related Quality of Life, Symptoms, and Work Productivity Among US Adult Outpatients with SARS-CoV-2

“…There is limited evidence measuring the health-related wellbeing of non-hospitalized individuals affected by COVID-19 [1][2][3][4]. To our knowledge, this is the first report measuring the impact of COVID-19 on the HRQoL and WPAI among a national sample of outpatients in the United States.…”

“…The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sustainability of quality of life of patients has been reported globally [1][2][3][4]. The prolonged multisystem symptoms associated to SARS-CoV-2 infection can negatively affect daily activities, ability to work, and social interactions, leading to poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL) [1][2][3][4].…”

Quality of Life in Post-COVID-19 Patients after Hospitalization

“…In our study, females had an incidence of anxiety and depression three-to-four times higher than that of males 5 months after diagnosis and admission. Female sex and advanced age were the factors most related to lower HRQoL in post-COVID-19 patients who required hospitalization, while other factors included the presence and number of comorbidities, high body mass index, lower levels of education, and unemployment [ 15 ]. We found that pain and discomfort were more pronounced in women 2.5 months after hospital admission, while after 5 months, mobility was twice as likely to be affected in women, and usual activities five times more likely.…”

Post-COVID: Alles eine Frage der Definition?

“…Die Suche erbrachte 52 Treffer. Nach Screening der Titel und Abstracts wurden 16 systematische Übersichtsarbeiten in die weitere Analyse der Definition und der zeitlichen Einschlusskriterien inkludiert [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. Die Gründe für den Ausschluss zeigt ▶ Abb.…”

“…Die Autoren einer Übersichtsarbeit wiesen darauf hin, dass die Definition "bestehender Symptome" bei den Autoren der Grunduntersu-chung lag und nicht weiter kontrolliert bzw. hinterfragt wurde (23).…”