PLoS ONE (Jan 2020)

Persistence of symptoms and quality of life at 35 days after hospitalization for COVID-19 infection.

  • Laurie G Jacobs,
  • Elli Gourna Paleoudis,
  • Dineen Lesky-Di Bari,
  • Themba Nyirenda,
  • Tamara Friedman,
  • Anjali Gupta,
  • Lily Rasouli,
  • Marygrace Zetkulic,
  • Bindu Balani,
  • Chinwe Ogedegbe,
  • Harinder Bawa,
  • Lauren Berrol,
  • Nabiha Qureshi,
  • Judy L Aschner

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243882
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 12
p. e0243882

Abstract

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BackgroundCharacterizing the prevalence and persistence of symptoms associated with COVID-19 infection following hospitalization and their impact is essential to planning post-acute community-based clinical services. This study seeks to identify persistent COVID-19 symptoms in patients 35 days post-hospitalization and their impact on quality of life, health, physical, mental, and psychosocial function.Methods and findingsThis prospective cohort study used the PROMIS® Instruments to identify symptoms and quality of life parameters in consecutively enrolled patients between March 22 and April 16, 2020, in New Jersey. The 183 patients (median age 57 years; 61.5% male, 54.1% white) reported persistent symptoms at 35 days, including fatigue (55.0%), dyspnea (45.3%), muscular pain (51%), associated with a lower odds rating general health (41.5%, OR 0.093 [95% CI: 0.026, 0.329], p = 0.0002), quality of life (39.8%; OR 0.116 [95% CI: 0.038, 0.364], p = 0.0002), physical health (38.7%, OR 0.055 [95% CI: 0.016, 0.193], p ConclusionsCOVID-19 symptoms commonly persist to 35 days, impacting quality of life, health, physical and mental function. Early post-acute evaluation of symptoms and their impact on function is necessary to plan community-based services.