Quality of life and persistence of COVID-19 symptoms 90 days after hospital discharge

Abstract

Objective We aimed to describe the persistence of symptoms in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and quality of life (QoL) among patients 90 days after their discharge from the hospital for infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and to determine differences in QoL domains concerning the absence or presence of persistent symptoms. Methods To measure QoL, we used a validated Spanish version of the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Results We included 141 patients. Ninety days after discharge, COVID-19 symptoms persisted in 107 patients (75.9%), with fatigue (55.3%) and joint pain (46.8%) being the most frequent. According to the SF-36, the role-physical score was the dimension with the lowest values (median score, 25; interquartile range, 0–75). Patients with joint pain, fatigue, and dyspnea had lower scores than patients without those symptoms, with 10 of the 13 evaluated SF-36 scales showing lower levels. Conclusion Ninety days after hospital discharge from COVID-19 reference centers, most patients had persistent symptoms and had lower SF-36 scores than patients without symptoms. It is important to follow-up patients discharged from the hospital after SARS-CoV-2 infection, ideally through a post-COVID-19 health care clinic and rehabilitation program, to improve QoL in these patients.

Lowered Quality of Life in Long COVID Is Predicted by Affective Symptoms, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Inflammation and Neuroimmunotoxic Pathways

“…As a result, a combination of pure affective, pure physiosomatic symptoms, and chronic fatigue determines HR-QoL in Long COVID to a large extent. These findings support previous research that Long COVID patients with affective (such as sadness and anxiety) and physiosomatic (such as fatigue, myalgia, and joint pain) symptoms have significantly lower HR-QoL scores on physical and mental health [ 26 ]. In patients suffering from MDD/BD we previously discovered that the total WHO-QoL score, as well as the four subdomain scores, were strongly and inversely related to the total HAMD and HAMA scores [ 39 , 40 ], with the HAMD having a much stronger effect on the total WHO-QoL scores than the HAMA [ 40 ].…”

“…Lowered health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) is another characteristic of Long COVID. For instance, 90 days after the acute phase, patients exhibiting symptoms of Long COVID (such as fatigue, sadness, myalgia, joint pain, dyspnea, anxiety, and vertigo) had significantly poorer SF-36 ratings for physical function, vitality, mental health, and physical health [ 26 ]. Another study found that HR-QoL was substantially lower 8.1 (±3.2) months after the acute episode [ 27 ].…”

Persistent effects of COVID‐19 in patients hospitalized during the first wave of the pandemic: The impact of persistent fatigue on quality of life in a cross‐sectional study

“…38,39 One previous study found survivors of COVID-19 with persistent fatigue had lower quality of life when compared to survivors without persistent fatigue 90 days after hospital discharge. 40 Persistent fatigue was also associated with PTSD symptomatology. Almost 17% of patients fell within clinically diagnosable range for PTSD.…”

Lowered quality of life in Long COVID is strongly predicted by affective symptoms and chronic fatigue syndrome which are associated with inflammatory processes during the acute infectious phase and consequent neuroimmunotoxic pathways

“…Lowered health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) is another characteristic of Long COVID. For instance, 90 days after the acute phase, patients exhibiting symptoms of Long COVID (such as fatigue, sadness, myalgia, joint pain, dyspnea, anxiety, and vertigo) had significantly poorer SF-36 ratings for physical function, vitality, mental health, and physical health [26]. Another study found that HR-QoL was substantially poorer 8.1 (±3.2) months after the acute episode [27].…”