Long term predictors of breathlessness, exercise intolerance, chronic fatigue and well-being in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: A cohort study with 4 months median follow-up.
J Infect Public Health
; 15(1): 21-28, 2022 Jan.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1521327
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS) is an emerging healthcare burden. We therefore aimed to determine predictors of different functional outcomes after hospital discharge in patients with COVID-19.METHODS:
An ambidirectional cohort study was conducted between May and July 2020, in which PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients underwent a standardized telephone assessment between 6 weeks and 6 months post discharge. We excluded patients who died, had a mental illness or failed to respond to two follow-up phone calls. The medical research council (MRC) dyspnea scale, metabolic equivalent of task (MET) score for exercise tolerance, chronic fatigability syndrome (CFS) scale and World Health Organization-five well-being index (WHO-5) for mental health were used to evaluate symptoms at follow-up.RESULTS:
375 patients were contacted and 153 failed to respond. The median timing for the follow-up assessment was 122 days (IQR, 109-158). On multivariate analyses, female gender, pre-existing lung disease, headache at presentation, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, critical COVID-19 and post-discharge ER visit were predictors of higher MRC scores at follow-up. Female gender, older age >67 years, arterial hypertension and emergency room (ER) visit were associated with lower MET exercise tolerance scores. Female gender, pre-existing lung disease, and ER visit were associated with higher risk of CFS. Age, dyslipidemia, hypertension, pre-existing lung disease and duration of symptoms were negatively associated with WHO-5 score.CONCLUSIONS:
Several risk factors were associated with an increased risk of PACS. Hospitalized patients with COVID-19 who are at risk for PACS may benefit from a targeted pre-emptive follow-up and rehabilitation programs.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic
/
Exercise Tolerance
/
Dyspnea
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
J Infect Public Health
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
/
Public Health
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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