Healthy outcomes of patients with COVID-19 two years after the infection: a prospective cohort study

Dapeng Li; Xuejiao Liao; Zhi Liu; Zhenghua Ma; Jingke Dong; Guoqin Zheng; Mei Zi; Fang Wang; Qing He; Guobao Li; Zheng Zhang; Lei Liu

doi:10.1080/22221751.2022.2133639

Emerging Microbes and Infections (Dec 2022)

Healthy outcomes of patients with COVID-19 two years after the infection: a prospective cohort study

Dapeng Li,
Xuejiao Liao,
Zhi Liu,
Zhenghua Ma,
Jingke Dong,
Guoqin Zheng,
Mei Zi,
Fang Wang,
Qing He,
Guobao Li,
Zheng Zhang,
Lei Liu

Affiliations

Dapeng Li: Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital; The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
Xuejiao Liao: Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital; The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
Zhi Liu: Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital; The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
Zhenghua Ma: Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital; The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
Jingke Dong: Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital; The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
Guoqin Zheng: Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital; The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
Mei Zi: Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital; The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
Fang Wang: Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital; The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
Qing He: Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital; The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
Guobao Li: Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital; The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
Zheng Zhang: Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital; The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
Lei Liu: Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital; The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2022.2133639
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 2680 – 2688

Abstract

Read online

The long-term effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been rarely known. This study aimed to investigate healthy outcomes of COVID-19 survivors up to 2 years after the infection. A total of 155 COVID-19 patients, who were discharged from Shenzhen Third People's Hospital from February 2020 to April 2020, were enrolled and followed up until March 4, 2022. COVID-19 survivors received questionnaires of long COVID symptoms and psychological symptoms, pulmonary function tests, chest computed tomography (CT) scans and routine laboratory tests. Two years after infection, 36.6% of patients had at least one symptom of long COVID. Vision impairment and fatigue were the most common symptom. 35.0% of participants still had at least one psychological symptom of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and sleep difficulties. Radiographic abnormalities were presented in 50.7% of patients, with the most common features of fibrosis-like lesions and residual ground-glass opacity. Diffuse dysfunction (24.0%) was the main abnormalities of pulmonary function tests. Most laboratory parameters returned to normal range, while persistent abnormalities in kidney and liver function test were observed in a subset of participants after discharge. Two years after COVID-19 infection, persistent symptoms of long COVID and psychological symptoms, as well as abnormalities in pulmonary function tests and CT, were still common in a subset of recovering individuals. These findings were limited by the lack of a healthy control group and pre-COVID assessments, which should be confirmed by further large-scale studies.

Published in Emerging Microbes and Infections

ISSN: 2222-1751 (Online)
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Medicine: Internal medicine: Infectious and parasitic diseases; Science: Microbiology
Website: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/temi

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords