Prevalence and pattern of Post Covid-19 symptoms in recovered patients of Delhi: A Population-Based study (preprint)

Background: Post-coronavirus disease (COVID) is widely reported but the data of Post COVID-19 after infection with the Omicron variant is limited. This prospective study was conducted to determine the prevalence, pattern, and duration of symptoms related to Covid-19 recovered patients. Methods: Adults (>18 years old) in 11 districts of Delhi who had recovered from Covid-19 were followed up at 3 months and 6 months post-recovery. Results: The study found that the participants had a mean age of 42.07 years, with a standard deviation of 14.89. Additionally, a significant proportion of the participants (79.7%) experienced post-Covid symptoms. The participants elicited a history of Joint Pain (36%), Persistent dry cough (35.7%), anxiousness (28.4%) and shortness of breath (27.1%). The other symptoms reported were persistent fatigue (21.6%), persistent headache (20%), forgetfulness (19.7%) and weakness in limbs (18.6%). The longest duration of symptom was observed in participants reporting anxiousness (138.75 +54.14) followed by fatigue (137.57+48.33), shortness of breath (131.89+60.21) and joint pain/swelling (131.59+58.76). During the first follow-up, 2.2% of participants had an abnormal ECG reading, while no abnormalities were reported during the second follow-up. Additionally, 4.06% of participants had abnormal chest X-ray findings during the first follow-up, with this number decreasing to 2.16% during the second follow-up. Conclusion: Our study concluded that the clinical symptoms persist in participants until 6 months and a multi-system involvement is seen in the post-COVID period. Thus, the findings necessitate long-term, regular follow-ups.

Association of Demographic, Clinical, Laboratory, and Radiological Characteristics with Outcomes of COVID-19 Patients: An Updated Review and Meta-Analysis (preprint)

Background: Risk factors for the adverse clinical outcomes of COVID-19 pneumonia have not yet been well delineated across different countries. The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess association between a composite clinical outcome (severe infection/ required ICU admission/ death) of COVID-19 pneumonia and demographic, clinical, laboratory and radiological findings of these patients.Methods: A literature search was conducted using the databases PubMed, Medline, Scopus and Web of Science through July 25, 2020. Relative risk (RRs), standardized mean difference (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled using random-effects models. We described overall estimates of relevant data of clinical importance (described in past literatures) from 1, 16,260 COVID-19 pneumonia patients including 19,628 with composite end points from 40 observational studies of 5 countries.Findings: The result showed that male gender (RR=1.24, CI=1.15-1.34, p 64 years (RR=2.52, CI=1.94-3.27, P Interpretation: Features like older age, male gender, presence of co-morbidities and delayed hospitalization along with the laboratory findings consistent with immune system activation, coagulation disorder and tissue damage could help clinicians to identify COVID-19 patients with poor prognosis at an early stage.Funding No funding received for this work from any of the organizations or so. All authors reported no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.Funding Statement: None.Declaration of Interests: All authors reported no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.Ethics Approval Statement: The study does not require ethical approval because the meta-analysis is based on published research and the original data are anonymous. We took a waiver for the ethical approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee of MAMC, New Delhi.