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 Feb 28;63(1):27-35.
doi: 10.3325/cmj.2022.27.

Risk factors and severity of functional impairment in long COVID: a single-center experience in Croatia

Marko Banić, Mateja Janković Makek, Miroslav Samaržija, Davorka Muršić, Zagorka Boras, Vesna Trkeš, Denis Baričević, Marta Koršić, Latinka Basara, Tajana Jalušić Glunčić, Andrea Vukić Dugac  1
Affiliations

Risk factors and severity of functional impairment in long COVID: a single-center experience in Croatia

Marko Banić et al. Croat Med J. .

Abstract

Aim: To determine the frequency of common symptoms in long COVID and their effect on the quality of life, and to determine the factors contributing to a more severe long COVID.

Methods: The study enrolled 266 patients who were either referred to long-COVID outpatient clinic or were inpatients undergoing rehabilitation. The data were collected between December 2020 and May 2021. We evaluated the symptoms experienced during acute and long COVID and comorbidities. Functional status was assessed with Post Covid Functional Status (PCFS).

Results: The final sample consisted of 261 patients. After acute COVID-19 period (>4 weeks), almost 80% of patients had impaired functional status. Only 21.5% reported no functional impairment (0 on PCFS scale). A higher PCFS score was associated with female sex (P<0.001) and oxygen therapy requirement during acute disease (P=0.001). However, it was not associated with having a pre-existing lung disease (P=0.749). Disease severity did not pose a risk for developing a more severe long COVID.

Conclusion: Women were at greater risk for developing greater functional impairment in long COVID, although we have no explanation why. Malignant disease and hypertension also presented a risk factor for greater functional impairment. More studies are warranted to determine if patients with certain lung disease are more susceptible to long COVID.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A flowchart (A) and description chart (B) used in determining patient’s Post-COVID-19 Functional Status (PCFS) score, developed by Klok et al (21). Adapted and used with the author’s permission.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The percentage of patients undergoing different treatment levels (outpatients, ward patients, intensive care unit [ICU] patients) who reported specific Post-COVID-19 Functional Status (PCFS) score. Horizontal axis: PCFS score.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The percentage of patients experiencing long-COVID symptoms in groups that underwent different levels of treatment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Karadag E. Increase in COVID-19 cases and case-fatality and case-recovery rates in Europe: A cross-temporal meta-analysis. J Med Virol. 2020;92:1511–7. doi: 10.1002/jmv.26035. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hozhabri H, Piceci Sparascio F, Sohrabi H, Mousavifar L, Roy R, Scribano D, et al. The global emergency of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2): An update of the current status and forecasting. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17:5648. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17165648. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Goshua G, Pine AB, Meizlish ML, Chang C-H, Zhang H, Bahel P, et al. Endotheliopathy in COVID-19-associated coagulopathy: evidence from a single-centre, cross-sectional study. Lancet Haematol. 2020;7:e575–82. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3026(20)30216-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Labò N, Ohnuki H, Tosato G. Vasculopathy and coagulopathy associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Cells. 2020;9:1583. doi: 10.3390/cells9071583. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dhakal BP, Sweitzer NK, Indik JH, Acharya D, William P. SARS-CoV-2 Infection and cardiovascular disease: COVID-19 heart. Heart Lung Circ. 2020;29:973–87. doi: 10.1016/j.hlc.2020.05.101. - DOI - PMC - PubMed