The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the rapid outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has claimed more than 6.52 million lives worldwide. I’m here. The pandemic is protracted due to the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants due to genomic mutations. Some SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as Omicron and Delta, are more contagious and more pathogenic than their ancestral strains.

Background

Although most COVID-19 patients recover from the acute infection, some experience long-term health conditions associated with cognitive, physical, and psychological problems that significantly impact their quality of life. Therefore, it is important to conduct regular follow-up of discharged COVID-19 patients. These studies will help us understand the trajectory of symptom burden and long-term health outcomes associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

A previous study found that COVID-19 patients who required intensive care unit (ICU) care continued to experience physical, mental, or cognitive symptoms one year after being discharged from the hospital. became. Understanding how long COVID-19-related symptoms last is essential.

Recent JAMA network open This study evaluated the dynamic trajectory of COVID-19 symptom burden and symptom persistence in people who survived SARS-CoV-2 infection 2 years after hospital discharge.

About research

In this longitudinal cohort study, scientists collected data on released COVID-19 survivors from Taikang Tongji Hospital and Huoshenshan Hospital. Both hospitals are located in Wuhan, China.

All participants were interviewed by telephone at 1 and 2 years after hospital discharge. A second year of follow-up was conducted between March 1, 2022 and he on April 6, 2022.

Apart from the telephone interview, all participants also provided a self-reported symptom questionnaire along with the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Assessment Test (CAT). Participants’ symptoms were recorded as no problem, mild problem, moderate problem, or severe problem. Patients with at least one persistent symptom of COVID-19 represent prolonged COVID-19.

Survey results

A total of 370 patients, or 19.8% of the study cohort, were found to experience COVID-19 symptoms after 2 years of hospital discharge. While 12.0% of the study cohort reported persistent symptoms, he 7.8% of patients experienced new onset or worsening symptoms from reported levels of mild symptoms at first-year follow-up. Did.

Some common symptoms experienced by participants were chest tightness, fatigue, dyspnea, muscle pain, and anxiety. The dyspnea persisted for a long time but subsided after 1 year. The study’s findings were consistent with previous studies that revealed a trend toward reduced symptoms over time.

In this study, a higher risk of persistent symptoms was associated with ICU admission. Furthermore, COVID-19 infection in patients with cerebrovascular disease was associated with the development of new symptoms. Her 6.2% of participants showed her CAT score of at least 10. In the current study, we observed an increased risk of persistent symptoms in her recovered COVID-19 patients who required her ICU care or had chronic liver disease during hospitalization.

Chronic liver disease was identified as an important factor associated with the risk of persistent symptoms. Furthermore, it was also shown that people with a CAT score of 10 or higher were more likely to have prolonged COVID-19 symptoms.

Research limitations

The authors highlighted some limitations, such as the lack of an age-matched, comorbidity-matched control group. This limitation prevented us from identifying long-term symptoms of acute illness in our patients. Another drawback of the current study is the loss of participants, especially older patients, during follow-up. Age distribution is an important aspect as it is considered an effect modifier of post-COVID-19 symptoms.

Current studies also use self-reported symptom questionnaires instead of diagnostic tools, increasing the risk of bias due to participant subjectivity. The number of symptoms considered in this study was small given the fact that over 100 of his COVID-19-related symptoms have been reported. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants is endemic and may have altered virulence and long-term sequelae compared to the data analyzed in this study.

Conclusion

A current longitudinal cohort study including COVID-19 survivors two years after discharge from hospital revealed common symptoms of long-lasting fatigue, anxiety, chest tightness, dyspnea, and muscle pain . Most of these symptoms disappeared, but dyspnea persisted at a reduced level over time. Her COVID-19 patients with severe disease requiring admission to the ICU were at high risk of persistent symptoms. This study provided insight into the dynamic trajectory of health outcomes in COVID-19 survivors.