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. 2022 Aug:80:103995.
doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2022.103995. Epub 2022 Jun 15.

Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome and its prolonged effects: An updated systematic review

Talal Almas  1 , Jahanzeb Malik  2 , Abdulla K Alsubai  1 , Syed Muhammad Jawad Zaidi  3 , Raafe Iqbal  4 , Kashif Khan  2 , Muhammad Ali  2 , Uzma Ishaq  5 , Majid Alsufyani  1 , Sebastian Hadeed  1 , Reema Alsufyani  1 , Reema Ahmed  1 , Tushar Thakur  6 , Helen Huang  1 , Meetty Antony  7 , Ishan Antony  1 , Anhad Bhullar  1 , Farida Kotait  1 , Lubabah Al-Ani  1
Affiliations

Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome and its prolonged effects: An updated systematic review

Talal Almas et al. Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: This systematic review aimed at estimating the prevalence of post-acute COVID-19 symptoms in view of published literature that studied prolonged clinical manifestations after recovery from acute COVID-19 infection.

Methods: Relevant databases were searched for extraction of articles. For data synthesis, based on the distribution of quantitative variables, they were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD) or median and interquartile range (IQR). Qualitative variables were presented as frequency (n) and percentages (%).

Results: Twenty-one articles qualified for the final analysis. The most common persistent clinical manifestations were fatigue (54.11%), dyspnea (24.38%), alopecia (23.21%), hyperhidrosis (23.6%), insomnia (25.98%), anxiety (17.29%), and arthralgia (16.35%). In addition to these symptoms, new-onset hypertension, diabetes, neuropsychiatric disorders, and bladder incontinence were also reported.

Conclusion: Clinical features of post-acute COVID-19 infection can manifest even after 60 days of initial infection. Multidisciplinary care along with regular follow-up must be provided to such patients.

Keywords: COVID-19; Long COVID; SARS-CoV-2.

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