Causatum in Adults up till 6 months after COVID-19 Infection: A longitudinal study

Abstract

Background: According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost 10% of patients with COVID-19 infection experience symptoms beyond 3 to 4 weeks. This has been termed as “Long Covid”. Post-COVID conditions are a wide range of new, returning, or ongoing health problems people can experience more than four weeks after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. Even people who did not have symptoms when they were infected can have post-COVID conditions. These conditions can have different types and combinations of health problems for different lengths of time. Material and Methods: A longitudinal prospective cohort study was conducted in adults between 18-70 years of age with laboratory confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection who presented at the dedicated COVID hospital associated with RajarshiDashrath Autonomous State Medical College, Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. COVID-19 symptom data were obtained at the time the patients presented at the hospital with symptoms or contact history. A total of 400 participants with experience of COVID-19 infection were contacted between August and November 2020 to complete a single follow-up questionnaire. Results: A total of 400 participants between 18- 70 years of age (mean age 46.0 years) with COVID-19 infection completed the survey. Out of these, 120 were females (30%) and remaining 280 (70%) were males. Overall, 43 (10.75%) were asymptomatic, 291 (72.75%) had mild and 66 (16.5%) had moderate or severe symptoms requiring hospitalization. The most common comorbidities (n=180) observed were Diabetes (n= 120, 66.67%), Hypertension (n=60, 33%), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) (n=23, 13.0%), Asthma (n= 13, 7.0%), and Chronic Kidney Disease (n= 4, 2.0%). The follow up survey was completed at a median range of 169 (31-300) days after onset of symptoms in participants with COVID-19. The most common persistent symptoms reported were Fatigue (n=178, 44.5%), Dizziness on standing (n=22, 5.5%), Headache (n= 46, 11.5%), palpitations (n=49, 12.25%), cough (n=112, 28%), chest tightness (n= 59, 14.75%), difficulty in breathing (n= 77, 19.25%), myalgia (n=125, 31.25%), low grade fever (n= 100, 25.0%), loss of smell or taste (68, 17%) and diarrhoea (n=42,10.5%).Conclusion: This study aims at illustrating varied, unmanageable and unsure nature of long Covid shared by the recovered COVID-19 patients so that further work can be done to develop services to address these problems.