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. 2024 Apr 12:12:1368568.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1368568. eCollection 2024.

Post-COVID-19 syndrome, who at risk and why: an insight from Qatar 2022

Nada Adli  1 , Mohamed Bala  2 , Mohamed Iheb Bougmiza  3   4 , Mohamed Ghaith Al-Kuwari  5   6 , Abdul Hameed Al-Khenji  5 , Nagah Selim  3   7
Affiliations

Post-COVID-19 syndrome, who at risk and why: an insight from Qatar 2022

Nada Adli et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Despite the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, many people experience post-COVID-19 syndrome, which negatively impacts their health and function. This condition has become a significant public health problem that requires immediate attention.

Objective: To study the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and predictors of post-COVID-19 Syndrome in Qatar during 2022.

Methods: An analytic cross-sectional study was conducted among COVID-19 confirmed cases from January 2022 to July 2022 in Qatar. A simple random sample was employed to include (n = 588) participants from the list of cases and invited to participate in a telephone survey. The World Health Organization's standard case definition for PCS was adopted.

Results: Out of 368, the prevalence of post-COVID-19 syndrome was 43.2% (n = 159). Most PCS cases were females (67.9%; n = 108), married (73.6%; n = 117), and university and higher educational level (83.6%; n = 133). However, 78.7% (n = 125) reported poor to moderate levels of social support. Only 30.2% (n = 48) of PCS patients had a history of chronic diseases, and 5.7% (n = 9) required hospital admission during acute illness. Among PCS cases, the most commonly reported symptoms were fatigue (75.5%), followed by anxiety (49.1%), forgetfulness (46.5%), mood alteration (45.3%), and general weakness (39.6%). The logistic regression revealed that female gender (AOR: 2.58 95%CI: 1.58-4.225, p < 0.0001), university and high educational level (AOR: 2.2, 95%CI: 1.256-3.98, p < 0.006), poor level of social support (AOR: 2.45; 95%CI: 1.55-4.13; p < 0.002), were significant predictors for PCS.

Conclusion: Post-COVID-19 syndrome may go under-recognized. More efforts are needed to raise awareness and mobilize the resources to respond to this ongoing public health problem.

Keywords: Qatar; adults; persistent symptoms; post-COVID-19 syndrome; prevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

NA was employed by Hamad Medical Corporation. MB, MIB, MA-K, AA-K, and NS were employed by Primary Health Care Corporation. The remaining author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the study recruitment of the participants (n = 368).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of post-COVID-19 Syndrome among adults infected with COVID-19 in Qatar during 2022 (N = 368).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Level of social support among adults with PCS in Qatar during 2022 (n = 159).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The distribution of common chronic diseases reported among post-COVID-19 syndrome cases in Qatar during 2022 (n = 159).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Frequency distribution of the common reported persistent symptoms among adults with post-covid-19 syndorme in Qatar during 2022 (n = 159).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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