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. 2022 Jun 10;12(1):9581.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-13077-5.

"Long COVID" results after hospitalization for SARS-CoV-2 infection

Marta Rigoni #  1   2 , Emanuele Torri #  3 , Giandomenico Nollo  4 , Livia Delle Donne  5 , Sebastiano Rizzardo  5 , Lorenza Lenzi  5 , Andrea Falzone  6 , Susanna Cozzio  5
Affiliations

"Long COVID" results after hospitalization for SARS-CoV-2 infection

Marta Rigoni et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Long-term sequelae of symptomatic infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 are largely undiscovered. We performed a prospective cohort study on consecutively hospitalized Sars-CoV-2 patients (March-May 2020) for evaluating COVID-19 outcomes at 6 and 12 months. After hospital discharge, patients were addressed to two follow-up pathways based on respiratory support needed during hospitalization. Outcomes were assessed by telephone consultation or ambulatory visit. Among 471 patients, 80.9% received no respiratory support during hospitalization; 19.1% received non-invasive ventilation (NIV) or invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). 58 patients died during hospitalization, therefore 413 were enrolled for follow-up. At 6 months, among 355 patients, the 30.3% had any symptoms, 18.0% dyspnea, 6.2% neurological symptoms. Fifty-two out of 105 had major damages in interstitial computed tomography images. NIV/IMV patients had higher probability to suffer of symptoms (aOR = 4.00, 95%CI:1.99-8.05), dyspnea (aOR = 2.80, 95%CI:1.28-6.16), neurological symptoms (aOR = 9.72, 95%CI:2.78-34.00). At 12 months, among 344, the 25.3% suffered on any symptoms, 12.2% dyspnea, 10.1% neurological symptoms. Severe interstitial lesions were present in 37 out of 47 investigated patients. NIV/IMV patients in respect to no respiratory support, had higher probability of experiencing symptoms (aOR = 3.66, 95%CI:1.73-7.74), neurological symptoms (aOR = 8.96, 95%CI:3.22-24.90). COVID-19 patients showed prolonged sequelae up to 12 months, highlighting the need of follow-up pathways for post-COVID-19 syndrome.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patients’ flow diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
General (blue color) and neurological symptoms (green color) at 6 (left) and 12 months (right) after discharge for hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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