Lingering COVID-19 symptoms in non-hospitalized (NH) patients: Results from a Tunisian prospective cohort

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Data on the short, medium and long term after covid-19 in adults is lacking and is sometimes discordant. The aim of our study was to describe the clinical profile of patients with symptoms lasting for more than 4 weeks after covid-19 and to determine the frequency of each symptom according to the time of infection. Method(s) Cross-sectional study including 1124 NH patients who reported having had covid-19 at least 1 month ago or more and who self-reported their symptoms prospectively in an online questionnaire. Result(s) A total of 861(76.6%) patients reported persistent symptoms, of which 728(84.5%) for>=3 months, 649(75.3%) for>=6 months, 268(31.1%) for>=12 months. The mean age was 30.5+/-9.4 years with a sex ratio at 0.12. Most of them was non-smokers (83.5 %), did not drink alcohol (87.4%) and had no medical history (81.3%). Overweight or obesity was found in 33.6% of them. Covid-19 was virologically confirmed in 75.3% of cases. Long covid was characterized by cognitive disorders, asthenia, psychological troubles, dysosmia, dysgeusia and sleeping disorders (Table 1). Conclusion(s) Symptoms can last for several months and even more than 1 year after covid-19 in NH patients with an improvement over time. Cognitive disorders and asthenia are main patients' complaint. Dyspnea and chest pain are less common. (Figure Presented).