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Post-COVID-19 syndrome and related dysautonomia reduce quality of life, and increase anxiety and depressive symptoms: evidence from Greece (preprint)
medrxiv; 2023.
Preprint
in English
| medRxiv | ID: ppzbmed-10.1101.2023.03.05.23286811
ABSTRACT
Background:
Post-COVID-19 syndrome affects a significant number of SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals even asymptomatic cases causing several neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms and signs. Materials andMethods:
An online cross-sectional study with a convenience sample was conducted in Greece from November 2022 to January 2023. We measured demographic and clinical characteristics of patients, post-COVID-19 dysautonomia, quality of life with the EQ-5D-3L, and anxiety and depressive symptoms with the Patient Health Questionnaire-4.Results:
Study population included 122 patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome. One out of four patients (27.8%) manifested post-COVID-19 dysautonomia, while mean duration of COVID-19 symptoms was 11.6 months. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were worse after the post-COVID-19 syndrome (p<0.001 in both cases). A statistically significant reduction in quality of life was observed among patients after the post-COVID-19 syndrome (p<0.001 for both EQ-5D-3L index value and EQ-5D-3L VAS). Post-COVID-19 dysautonomia increased depression symptoms after the post-COVID-19 syndrome (p=0.02). We found a negative relationship between duration of COVID-19 symptoms and quality of life (p<0.001). Moreover, our results showed that depressive symptoms were more often among females after the post-COVID-19 syndrome (p=0.01). Also, quality of life was lower among females than males (p=0.004 for EQ-5D-3L index value, and p=0.007 for EQ-5D-3L VAS).Conclusions:
Our results suggest that post-COVID-19 syndrome causes a tremendous impact on patients quality of life and mental health. In addition, we found that the groups most psychologically affected were patients with post-COVID-19 dysautonomia, females, and patients with longer duration of symptoms. Policy makers should attach priority to vulnerable groups in future psychiatric planning. Policy measures should focus on mental health of post-COVID-19 patients who seem to be particularly vulnerable.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Preprints
Database:
medRxiv
Language:
English
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Preprint
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