Prevalence of Long COVID-19 and its Impact on Quality of Life Among Outpatients With Mild COVID-19 Disease at Tertiary Care Center in North India

• Published in: Journal of patient experience Vol. 9; p. 23743735221117358
• Main Authors: Sarda, Radhika, Kumar, Arvind, Chandra, Ankit, Bir, Megha, Kumar, Sanchit, Soneja, Manish, Sinha, Sanjeev, Wig, Naveet
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 2022; Sage Publications Ltd; SAGE Publishing
• Subjects: Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19: Patient and Clinician Experiences; Quality of life; COVID-19; long COVID-19; sequelae; fatigue; quality of life; prolonged
• ISSN: 2374-3735; 2374-3743
• DOI: 10.1177/23743735221117358

Literature is lacking on the spectrum of symptoms of long COVID-19 (defined as symptoms persisting beyond 28 days of diagnosis) and its impact on quality of life. This single-center, cross-sectional study included mild COVID-19 cases as determined by a positive real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test. Patients were contacted at least 28 days after diagnosis and were interviewed telephonically using semi-structured questionnaires for duration of symptoms, fatigue using Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and quality of life using the World Health Organization Quality of Life: Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF). A total of 251 COVID-19 patients were included; of which 169 (67.3%) were males. The mean age of the patients was 35.8 years (SD = 12.5). The prevalence of long COVID-19 was 28.2% (n = 71, 95% CI: 23.0–34.2). The most common symptoms involved the musculoskeletal system (12.7%), upper respiratory tract (7.6%), and fatigue among 17 (6.8%) patients. Patients with long COVID-19 had significantly higher FSS score and lower WHOQOL-BREF score compared to the patients without long COVID-19 (<28 days).