Persistent Post-COVID Symptoms and the Related Factors

OBJECTIVE: The recently emerged coronavirus 2019 disease is an infectious disease that predominantly affects the respiratory system. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the persistent post-COVID symptoms and the related factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study was conducted on 396 post-COVID patients. The demographic (age, gender, body mass index, smoking, location and duration of treatment, and date of post-COVID follow-up visit) and clinical (symptoms during and after the infection, comorbidities) data were evaluated by interview and a questionnaire. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 50.25 years (min-max: 19-85). There were equal numbers of males (n = 198) and females (n = 198) in the study. The mean body mass index was 27.94 (min-max: 17.90-44.92). The majority of patients (n = 222, 56.1%) had been treated at home, while the rates of patients admitted to ward and intensive care unit were 37.1% (n = 147) and 6.8% (n = 27), respectively. The number of patients with at least 1 persistent symptom during post-COVID follow-up visit was 348 (87.9%). The symptoms during the infection included fatigue (n = 339, 85.6%), cough (n = 373, 68.9%), joint pain (n = 267, 67.4%), appetite loss (n = 234, 59.1%), dyspnea (n = 231, 58.3%), while the persistent post-COVID symptoms were fatigue (n = 222, 56.1%), cough (n = 174, 43.9%), dyspnea (n = 171, 43.2%), and chest pain (n = 171, 43.2%). No significant relationships between post-COVID symptoms and age, body mass index, comorbidity, duration from diagnosis to a follow-up visit, and COVID-19 pneumonia during the infection were found, while a statistically significant relationship regarding gender was found. CONCLUSION: There is still a lack of knowledge about the long-term consequences of coronavirus 2019 disease. Moreover, no standardized method exists for categorizing patients into post-COVID controls.