Persistent COVID-19 symptoms 1 year after hospital discharge: A prospective multicenter study.

oleh: Judit Aranda, Isabel Oriol, Lucía Feria, Gabriela Abelenda, Alexander Rombauts, Antonella Francesca Simonetti, Clarisa Catalano, Natàlia Pallarès, Miguel Martín, Núria Vàzquez, Estel Vall-Llosera, Nicolás Rhyman, Romina Concepción Suárez, Marta Nogué, Jose Loureiro-Amigo, Ana Coloma, Luis Ceresuela, Jordi Carratalà

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-01-01

Deskripsi

<h4>Objective</h4>To determine the health status and exercise capacity of COVID-19 survivors one year after hospital discharge.<h4>Methods</h4>This multicenter prospective study included COVID-19 survivors 12 months after hospital discharge. Participants were randomly selected from a large cohort of COVID-19 patients who had been hospitalized until 15th April 2020. They were interviewed about persistent symptoms, underwent a physical examination, chest X-ray, and a 6-minute walk test (6MWT). A multivariate analysis was performed to determine the risk factors for persistent dyspnea.<h4>Results</h4>Of the 150 patients included, 58% were male and the median age was 63 (IQR 54-72) years. About 82% reported ≥1 symptoms and 45% had not recovered their physical health. The multivariate regression analysis revealed that the female sex, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and smoking were independent risk factors for persistent dyspnea. Approximately 50% completed less than 80% of the theoretical distance on the 6MWT. Only 14% had an abnormal X-ray, showing mainly interstitial infiltrates. A third of them had been followed up in outpatient clinics and 6% had undergone physical rehabilitation.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Despite the high rate of survivors of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with persistent symptomatology at 12 months, the follow-up and rehabilitation of these patients has been really poor. Studies focusing on the role of smoking in the persistence of COVID-19 symptoms are lacking.