Clinical outcomes and quality of life of COVID-19 survivors: A follow-up of 3 months post hospital discharge

Abstract

Background Over 66 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Therefore, understanding their clinical evolution beyond hospital discharge is essential not only from an individual standpoint, but from a populational level. Objectives Our primary aim was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) 3 months after hospital discharge. Additionally, we screened for anxiety and depression and assessed important clinical outcomes. Methods This was a single-centre cohort study performed in Sao Paulo (Brazil), in which participants were contacted by telephone to answer a short survey. EQ-5D-3L was used to assess HRQoL and clinical data from patients’ index admission were retrieved from medical records. Results We contacted 251 participants (59.8% males, mean age 53 years old), 69.7% of which had presented with severe COVID-19. At 3 months of follow-up, 6 patients had died, 51 (20.3%) had visited the emergency department again and 17 (6.8%) had been readmitted to hospital. Seventy patients (27.9%) persisted with increased dyspnoea and 81 had a positive screening for anxiety/depression. Similarly, patients reported an overall worsening of EQ-5D-3L single summary index at 3 months compared to before the onset of COVID-19 symptoms ( 0.8012 (0.7368 – 1.0) vs. 1.0(0.7368 – 1.0), p<0.001). This affected all 5 domains, but especially pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. Only female sex and intensive care requirement were independently associated with worsening of HRQoL. Conclusion Patients hospitalized for COVID-19 frequently face persistent clinical and mental health problems up to 3 months following hospital discharge, with significant impact on patients’ HRQoL.

Associations of Post-Acute COVID syndrome with physiological and clinical measures 10 months after hospitalization in patients of the first wave

“…A worsened quality of life is a fairly consistent finding for PACS [24,26,32,57,59,72,73]. In the absence of reference values for the SGRQ we could not define an overall worsened HrQoL, but data were consistent regarding their correlation with shortness of breath and fatigue, suggesting that we asked for important factors underlying the overall impairment in quality of life.…”

“…Basic demographic characteristics and data on the hospital stay during COVID-19 of the 101 patients are given in Table 1A stratified according to sex. This stratification was chosen, as sex had turned out as major determinant of PACS in previous studies [57][58][59][60][61][62]. The median age was 60 (IQR 51-66; range 28-69) years, 58% of patients were male, 35% had a history of smoking, and 76% at least one comorbidity.…”

The Quality of Life of Coronavirus Disease Survivors Living in Rural and Urban Area of Riau Province, Indonesia

“…An analogous finding was mentioned in a study from Israel; patients requiring hospitalization with COVID-19 reported poor quality of life and needs prolonged medical follow up [ 26 ]. In addition to this, a Brazilian study highlighted that an ICU admission was an independent predictor of worsening health related quality of life [ 27 ].…”

Fatigue and cognitive impairment in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Published June 10, 2020 , Sabes-Figuera et al, 2010 , Winston, 2020 , Xu et al, 2017 , Stroup et al, 2000 , Page et al, 2021 , Better systematic review management. Published June 11, 2020 , Stang, 2010 , Shuwa et al, 2021 , Sonnweber et al, 2021 , Taboada et al, 2021 , Todt et al, 2021 , Wong et al, 2020 , Zhou et al, 2021 , Ghosn et al, 2021 , Say et al, 2021 , Pilotto et al, 2021 , Liyanage-Don et al, 2021 , Miyazato et al, 20202020 , González et al, 2021 , Fernández-de-las-Peñas et al, 2021 , Fernández-de-Las-Peñas et al, 2021 , Arnold et al, 2021 , Fortini et al, 2021 , García-Abellán et al, 2021 , Ong et al, 20212021 , PHOSP-COVID Collaborative Group et al, 2021 , Skala et al, 2021 , Sykes et al, 2021 , Santis et al, 2020 , van den Borst et al, 2020 , Venturelli et al, 2021 , IL6 - Clinical: Interleukin 6, Plasma. Accessed June 26, 2021 , Elkan et al, 2021 , Frontera et al, 2021 , Garrigues et al, 2020 , Havervall et al, 2021 , Rogers et al, 2020 , Hoffman and Vilensky, 2017 , Komaroff and Lipkin, 2021 , Higgins et al, 2021 , Douaud et al, 2021 , Lee et al, 2021 , Guedj et al, 2021 , Libby and Lüscher, 2020 , Oronsky et al, 2021 , Yong, 2021 , Sartori et al, 2012 , Rosenblat et al, 2014 , Sonneville et al, 2009 , Gałecki et al, 2018 , Heckenberg et al, 2018 , Xiong et al, 2020 , Taquet et al, 2021 , McIntyre et al, 2019 , …”