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. 2024 Feb 9;10(4):e26130.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26130. eCollection 2024 Feb 29.

Association of long COVID with health-related Quality of Life and Social Participation in Germany: Finding from an online-based cross-sectional survey

Dominik Schröder  1 , Stephanie Heinemann  1   2 , Gloria Heesen  1 , Eva Hummers  1 , Tim Schmachtenberg  1   3 , Alexandra Dopfer-Jablonka  3   4 , Kai Vahldiek  5 , Frank Klawonn  5   6 , Sandra Klawitter  5 , Sandra Steffens  3   7 , Marie Mikuteit  3   7 , Jacqueline Niewolik  3 , Frank Müller  1   8
Affiliations

Association of long COVID with health-related Quality of Life and Social Participation in Germany: Finding from an online-based cross-sectional survey

Dominik Schröder et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to examine the health-related Quality of Life (hrQoL) and social participation in participants with Long COVID compared to participants without symptoms after COVID-19 and participants with no prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Germany. The non-random sample consists of participants 18 years or older. Participants were divided in three groups: Lg COVID with a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection and new or persistent symptoms 28 days after infection, ExCOVID with a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection and without new or persistent symptoms after 28 days, and NoCOVID when participants had no prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. EQ-5D-3L was used as hrQoL measure and the Index for the Assessment of Health Impairments (IMET) to reflect social participation. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed.

Results: A total of 3188 participants were included in the analysis (1421 Lg COVID, 260 ExCOVID, 1507 NoCOVID). Lg COVID was associated with the lowest EQ-5D-3L index values (p < 0.001), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores (p < 0.001), and IMET (p < 0.001) scores followed by NoCOVID and ExCOVID. After adjusting for sociodemographic and medical conditions in a multivariable model Long COVID was still associated with lower hrQoL compared to NoCOVID (p < 0.001). About 10% of Lg COVID participants showed no health impairments in all EQ-5D dimensions while 51.1% of NoCOVID and 60% of ExCOVID participants showed no health impairments.

Conclusion: This study highlights the impairments of persons with Long COVID on hrQoL and social participation compared to individuals without Long COVID in Germany.

Trial registration: German Clinical Trial Registry, DRKS00026007.

Keywords: COVID-19; Patient reported outcome measures; Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome; Quality of life; Social participation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of included participants.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Possion regression coefficients predicting EQ-5D VAS disutility scores comparing two models (reference: NoCOVID) Point estimates with 95% confidence intervals; model adjusted for age (continuous), gender, migration status, school education and comorbidities (heart disease, autoimmune disease, cancer, depression); negative regression coefficients indicate higher health-related Quality of Life.
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