Prevalence and Associated Factors of Post-COVID-19 Syndrome in a Brazilian Cohort after 3 and 6 Months of Hospital Discharge

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 20; no. 1; p. 848
• Main Authors: Lapa, Juliana, Rosa, Davi, Mendes, João Pedro Lima, Deusdará, Rodolfo, Romero, Gustavo Adolfo Sierra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 02-01-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Age; Brazil - epidemiology; Cohort Studies; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Diabetes; Disease transmission; Dyspnea; Fatigue; Female; Females; Fever; Gender; Hair loss; Headaches; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Hospitals, Public; Humans; Hypercholesterolemia; Hypertension; Hypothyroidism; Infections; Medical records; Memory Disorders; Multivariate analysis; Muscle pain; Obesity; Oxygen saturation; Pandemics; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome; Prevalence; Questionnaires; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Signs and symptoms; Sleep disorders; Tomography; Ventilators; Brazil; COVID-19; post-acute COVID-19; post-COVID-19 syndrome; long-COVID
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20010848

(1) Objectives: To evaluate the frequency and factors associated with the Post-COVID-19 Syndrome (PCS) in COVID-19 survivors after 3 and 6 months of hospital discharge; (2) Methods: We conducted a cohort study with patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 in a referral public hospital in Brasília, Federal District, Brazil. After 3 and 6 months of discharge, patients answered a questionnaire about PCS symptoms. Poisson regression with robust variance was used to estimate the crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR and aPR) of PCS. (3) Results: The prevalence of PCS was 81% and 61% after 3 and 6 months of hospital discharge, respectively. The main symptoms after 3 months of discharge were hair loss (44%), fatigue (42%), and memory loss (39%); while after 6 months, they were memory loss (29%) and fatigue (27%). In the multivariate analysis, the main factor associated with PCS was female gender (aPR): 1.28 (1.16-1.41) and 1.60 (1.34-1.90), 3 and 6 months after hospital discharge, respectively. Hypercholesterolemia was also associated with PCS after 3 months aPR of 1.15 (1.04-1.27). After 6 months of discharge, obesity [aPR: 1.22 (1.03-1.45)] and pronation [aPR: 1.15 (1.06-1.25)] were relevant associated factors. (4) Conclusions: The prevalence of PCS was high in COVID-19 survivors who had the moderate and severe forms of the disease. Memory loss was the most persistent symptom. Our data pointed to female gender, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, and pronation during hospitalization as relevant PCS-associated risk factors.