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 Nov 28;37(46):e326.
doi: 10.3346/jkms.2022.37.e326.

Long COVID-19 and Health-Related Quality of Life of Mild Cases in Korea: 3-Months Follow-up of a Single Community Treatment Center

Hi Sun Soh  1   2 , BeLong Cho  3   4
Affiliations

Long COVID-19 and Health-Related Quality of Life of Mild Cases in Korea: 3-Months Follow-up of a Single Community Treatment Center

Hi Sun Soh et al. J Korean Med Sci. .

Abstract

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19]) survivors mount as the pandemic continues. To date, studies on persistent symptoms and their effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in mild COVID-19 cases have been limited.

Methods: A prospective online survey was conducted in COVID-19 patients who were admitted to Seongnam Community Treatment Center, an isolation center in South Korea, from November 23rd 2021 to January 2nd 2022. Patients above the age of 19 with no or mild symptoms were included in the study. Total of 147 patients returned to the follow-up survey 3 months after discharge. Baseline demographics, clinical characteristics, symptoms, and EuroQol-5 dimensions-5 levels (EQ-5D-5L) measures were investigated.

Results: The median (interquartile range [IQR]) interval period between the initial and follow-up survey was 96.0 (93.0-98.0) days. The median (IQR) age of participants was 51.0 (43.0-61.0). During isolation, 131 (89.1%) patients manifested symptoms. On follow-up, 82 (55.8%) participants remained symptomatic. Common symptoms were constitutional (fatigue, myalgia), neurological (memory impairment, hyposmia, hypogeusia, dizziness), and neuropsychiatric (anxiety) symptoms. Participants with remaining neuropsychiatric symptoms reported the lowest EQ-5D-5L index values. Factors associated with persistent symptoms and diminished HRQoL were identified as female sex, metabolic disease, and anxiety during acute COVID-19 phase.

Conclusions: Cardiopulmonary symptoms improved over time but constitutional, neurological, neuropsychiatric symptoms remained. Patients with neuropsychiatric symptoms (anxiety and insomnia) reported the worst HRQoL. Female sex, metabolic disease, and anxiety during the acute COVID-19 phase were associated with long COVID. Observations of long-term symptoms of COVID-19 with decline in HRQoL and integrated research in COVID-19 survivors are warranted.

Keywords: COVID-19; COVID-19 Complications; HRQoL; Health-Related Quality of Life; Long COVID; Persistent Symptoms.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Distribution of symptoms at baseline and follow-up.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Distribution of EQ-5D-5L at baseline and follow-up.
EQ-5D-5L = 5-level version of the EuroQol 5-dimensional questionnaire.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Dong E, Du H, Gardner L. An interactive web-based dashboard to track COVID-19 in real time. Lancet Infect Dis. 2020;20(5):533–534. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Our World in Data. Daily new confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people. [Updated 2022]. [Accessed May 5, 2022]. https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer .
    1. Wang D, Hu B, Hu C, Zhu F, Liu X, Zhang J, et al. Clinical characteristics of 138 hospitalized patients with 2019 novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia in Wuhan, China. JAMA. 2020;323(11):1061–1069. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kim MK, Lee B, Choi YY, Um J, Lee KS, Sung HK, et al. Clinical characteristics of 40 patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant in Korea. J Korean Med Sci. 2022;37(3):e31. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mehandru S, Merad M. Pathological sequelae of long-haul COVID. Nat Immunol. 2022;23(2):194–202. - PMC - PubMed