tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Intern Med J
. 2022 Sep 16.
doi: 10.1111/imj.15930. Online ahead of print.
Symptom Persistence and Recovery Among Covid-19 Survivors During A Limited Outbreak in Canterbury, New Zealand: A Prospective Cohort Study
Jeanette Cheung[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Kim Nordmeier[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sarah Kelland[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Michael Harrington[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Jonathan Williman[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Malina Storer[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ben Beaglehole[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Lutz Beckert[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Stephen Chambers[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Michael Epton[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Josh Freeman[SUP] 2 [/SUP], David Murdoch[SUP] 2 5 [/SUP], Anja Werno[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Michael Maze[SUP] 1 6 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: In Canterbury, near complete identification of COVID-19 cases during a limited outbreak provides unique insights of sequelae.
Aim: Our study aimed to measure: symptom persistence, time to return to normal activity, generalised anxiety and health related quality of life (HrQoL) among COVID-19 survivors compared with uninfected participants.
Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of people tested for COVID-19 by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction of nasopharyngeal swabs from 1[SUP]st[/SUP] March - 30[SUP]th[/SUP] June 2020. We enrolled participants who tested positive and negative at a 1:2 ratio. We administered Community Acquired Pneumonia, Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and HrQoL (RAND-36) questionnaires.
Results: We recruited 145 participants, 48 with COVID-19 and 97 without COVID-19. Mean time from COVID-19 testing to completing the health questionnaire was 306 days. Mean age was 46.7 years, and 70% were female. Four (8%) COVID-19 positive and eight (8%) COVID-19 negative participants required hospitalisation. Fatigue (30/48, 63% vs 13/97, 13%; p<0.001), dyspnoea (13/48, 27% vs 6/97, 6%; p<0.001) and chest pain (10/48, 21% vs 1/97, 1%; p< 0.001), were persistent in those with COVID-19. Fewer COVID-19 positive participants returned to normal activity levels (35/48, 73% vs 94/97, 97%; p< 0.001), with longer times taken (median 21 days vs 14 days; p=0.007). The GAD-7 and RAND-36 scores of both groups were similar across all anxiety and HrQoL subscales.
Conclusions: We found persistent symptoms and longer recovery times in COVID-19 survivors, but not impaired generalised anxiety levels or HrQoL compared to COVID-19 uninfected participants. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Keywords: COVID-19 and coronavirus disease; New Zealand; SARS-CoV-2; post-acute COVID-19 symptoms; recovery.
. 2022 Sep 16.
doi: 10.1111/imj.15930. Online ahead of print.
Symptom Persistence and Recovery Among Covid-19 Survivors During A Limited Outbreak in Canterbury, New Zealand: A Prospective Cohort Study
Jeanette Cheung[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Kim Nordmeier[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sarah Kelland[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Michael Harrington[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Jonathan Williman[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Malina Storer[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ben Beaglehole[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Lutz Beckert[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Stephen Chambers[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Michael Epton[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Josh Freeman[SUP] 2 [/SUP], David Murdoch[SUP] 2 5 [/SUP], Anja Werno[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Michael Maze[SUP] 1 6 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 36114621
- DOI: 10.1111/imj.15930
Abstract
Background: In Canterbury, near complete identification of COVID-19 cases during a limited outbreak provides unique insights of sequelae.
Aim: Our study aimed to measure: symptom persistence, time to return to normal activity, generalised anxiety and health related quality of life (HrQoL) among COVID-19 survivors compared with uninfected participants.
Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of people tested for COVID-19 by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction of nasopharyngeal swabs from 1[SUP]st[/SUP] March - 30[SUP]th[/SUP] June 2020. We enrolled participants who tested positive and negative at a 1:2 ratio. We administered Community Acquired Pneumonia, Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and HrQoL (RAND-36) questionnaires.
Results: We recruited 145 participants, 48 with COVID-19 and 97 without COVID-19. Mean time from COVID-19 testing to completing the health questionnaire was 306 days. Mean age was 46.7 years, and 70% were female. Four (8%) COVID-19 positive and eight (8%) COVID-19 negative participants required hospitalisation. Fatigue (30/48, 63% vs 13/97, 13%; p<0.001), dyspnoea (13/48, 27% vs 6/97, 6%; p<0.001) and chest pain (10/48, 21% vs 1/97, 1%; p< 0.001), were persistent in those with COVID-19. Fewer COVID-19 positive participants returned to normal activity levels (35/48, 73% vs 94/97, 97%; p< 0.001), with longer times taken (median 21 days vs 14 days; p=0.007). The GAD-7 and RAND-36 scores of both groups were similar across all anxiety and HrQoL subscales.
Conclusions: We found persistent symptoms and longer recovery times in COVID-19 survivors, but not impaired generalised anxiety levels or HrQoL compared to COVID-19 uninfected participants. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Keywords: COVID-19 and coronavirus disease; New Zealand; SARS-CoV-2; post-acute COVID-19 symptoms; recovery.