Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar;52(2):75-81.
doi: 10.1016/j.idnow.2021.11.003. Epub 2021 Nov 17.

Prevalence and factors associated with symptom persistence: A prospective study of 429 mild COVID-19 outpatients

A Faycal  1 , A L Ndoadoumgue  2 , B Sellem  3 , C Blanc  4 , Y Dudoit  4 , L Schneider  4 , R Tubiana  4 , M-A Valantin  4 , S Seang  4 , R Palich  4 , A Bleibtreu  3 , G Monsel  3 , N Godefroy  3 , O Itani  3 , O Paccoud  3 , V Pourcher  4 , E Caumes  4 , N Ktorza  3 , A Chermak  3 , B Abdi  5 , L Assoumou  2 , C Katlama  4 ; COVIDOM-19 PSL research group
Affiliations

Prevalence and factors associated with symptom persistence: A prospective study of 429 mild COVID-19 outpatients

A Faycal et al. Infect Dis Now. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: Persistent symptoms have recently emerged as a clinical issue in COVID-19. We aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors in symptomatic non-hospitalized individuals with mild COVID-19.

Methods: We performed a prospective cohort study of symptomatic COVID-19 outpatients, from March to May 2020, with weekly phone calls from clinical onset until day 30 and up to day 60 in case of persistent symptoms. The main outcomes were the proportion of patients with complete recovery at day 30 and day 60 and factors associated with persistent symptoms.

Results: We enrolled 429 individuals mostly women (72.5%) and healthcare workers (72.5%), with a median age of 41.6 years [IQR 30-51.5]. Symptoms included: cough (69.7%), asthenia (68.8%), anosmia (64.8%), headaches (64.6%), myalgia (62.7%), gastrointestinal symptoms (61.8%), fever (61.5%), and ageusia (60.8%). Mean duration of disease was 27 days (95%CI: 25-29). The rate of persistent symptoms was 46.8% at day 30 and 6.5% at day 60 consisting in asthenia (32.6%), anosmia (32.6%), and ageusia (30.4%). The probability of complete recovery was 56.3% (95%CI: 51.7-61.1) at day 30 and 85.6% (95%CI: 81.2-89.4) at day 60. Factors associated with persistent symptoms were age>40 (HR 0.61), female sex (HR 0.70), low cycle threshold (HR 0.78), and ageusia (HR 0.59).

Conclusions: COVID-19 - even in its mild presentation - led to persistent symptoms (up to one month) in nearly half of individuals. Identification of risk factors such as age, gender, ageusia and viral load is crucial for clinical management and argues for the development of antiviral agents.

Keywords: COVID-19; Mild COVID-19; Persistent COVID-19 symptoms; SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Frequency of symptoms at day 0, day 30, and day 60. GI: gastrointestinal.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Probability of complete recovery from mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in 429 patients.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Multivariable analysis of factors associated with persistence of symptoms (between March 10 and July 3, 2020)*. *: inclusions started on March 10 and the last follow-up was on July 3, 2020.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wu Z., McGoogan J.M. Characteristics of and important lessons from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China: summary of a report of 72,314 cases from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. JAMA. 2020;323:1239. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.2648. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Guan W., Ni Z., Hu Y., Liang W., Ou C., He J., et al. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:1708–1720. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2002032. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Weiss P., Murdoch D.R. Clinical course and mortality risk of severe COVID-19. Lancet Lond Engl. 2020;395:1014–1015. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30633-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yang X., Yu Y., Xu J., Shu H., Xia J., Liu H., et al. Clinical course and outcomes of critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a single-centered, retrospective, observational study. Lancet Respir Med. 2020;8:475–481. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30079-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guo Y.-R., Cao Q.-D., Hong Z.-S., Tan Y.-Y., Chen S.-D., Jin H.-J., et al. The origin, transmission and clinical therapies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak – an update on the status. Mil Med Res. 2020:7. doi: 10.1186/s40779-020-00240-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources