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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Jan-Dec:18:14799731211002240.
doi: 10.1177/14799731211002240.

Prevalence of potential respiratory symptoms in survivors of hospital admission after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A systematic review and meta-analysis

Kevin Cares-Marambio  1 , Yessenia Montenegro-Jiménez  1 , Rodrigo Torres-Castro  1   2 , Roberto Vera-Uribe  1   2 , Yolanda Torralba  3   4 , Xavier Alsina-Restoy  3 , Luis Vasconcello-Castillo  1   2 , Jordi Vilaró  2   5
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Prevalence of potential respiratory symptoms in survivors of hospital admission after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A systematic review and meta-analysis

Kevin Cares-Marambio et al. Chron Respir Dis. 2021 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

Knowledge on the sequelae of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains limited due to the relatively recent onset of this pathology. However, the literature on other types of coronavirus infections prior to COVID-19 reports that patients may experience persistent symptoms after discharge. To determine the prevalence of respiratory symptoms in survivors of hospital admission after COVID-19 infection. A living systematic review of five databases was performed in order to identify studies which reported the persistence of respiratory symptoms in COVID-19 patients after discharge. Two independent researchers reviewed and analysed the available literature, and then extracted and assessed the quality of those articles. Of the 1,154 reports returned by the initial search nine articles were found, in which 1,816 patients were included in the data synthesis. In the pooled analysis, we found a prevalence of 0.52 (CI 0.38-0.66, p < 0.01, I2 = 97%), 0.37 (CI 0.28-0.48, p < 0.01, I2 = 93%), 0.16 (CI 0.10-0.23, p < 0.01, I2 = 90%) and 0.14 (CI 0.06-0.24, p < 0.01, I2 = 96%) for fatigue, dyspnoea, chest pain, and cough, respectively. Fatigue, dyspnoea, chest pain, and cough were the most prevalent respiratory symptoms found in 52%, 37%, 16% and 14% of patients between 3 weeks and 3 months, after discharge in survivors of hospital admission by COVID-19, respectively.

Keywords: COVID-19; chest pain; cough; dyspnoea; fatigue; respiratory symptoms.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Study selection process.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Prevalence of fatigue.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Prevalence of dyspnoea.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Prevalence of chest pain.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Prevalence of cough.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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