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Background <p>The aim of this study was to determine the clinical outcome&#xa0;at long-term follow-up in participants previously infected with COVID-19.</p> Methods <p>Nine hundred ninety-five patients were randomly selected from all individuals who were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection following nasopharyngeal swabbing. They were interviewed to assess persistence of symptoms and health-related quality of life using a post-COVID questionnaire and the Short Form Survey (SF-36), respectively. Blood investigations were also carried out.</p> Results <p>The median (interquartile range, IQR) age was 49 (36–60) years and 43.3% were men. At a median follow-up of 811 days, 21% of participants were feeling worse than they had felt before COVID-19. The most common symptoms were abnormal taste of food (41.8%), anosmia (40.8%), fatigue (25.9%), headache (22.4%), shortness of breath (22.1%), and myalgia (21.8%). The SF-36 questionnaire revealed that hospitalised patients fared worse only with respect to physical functioning when compared to non-hospitalised patients (<i>p</i> = 0.003). Patients with persistent fatigue or shortness of breath were found to have significantly elevated platelet count and serum liver enzymes as well as lower albumin levels following multivariate adjustment, suggesting ongoing inflammation and liver injury. Hospitalised participants had significantly higher troponin levels as well as lower eGFR, when compared to non-hospitalised participants.</p> Conclusions <p>A significant proportion of post-COVID patients were symptomatic at a median follow-up of 881 days; symptomatic participants exhibited deranged biochemical markers in keeping with ongoing inflammation and liver injury. Hospitalised patients had higher troponin levels suggesting underlying myocardial injury. Further studies should thus assess whether such changes persist at longer follow-up.</p>

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Clinical outcomes at long-term follow-up of COVID-19

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年8月23日

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  • Rachel-Anne Xuereb,
  • Jessica Barbara,
  • Andrea Noah Paris,
  • Christine Azzopardi,
  • Francesca Bezzina,
  • Eleanore Cricchiola,
  • Julia Zahra,
  • Lara Saliba,
  • Stephen Fava,
  • Caroline Jane Magri

摘要

Background

The aim of this study was to determine the clinical outcome at long-term follow-up in participants previously infected with COVID-19.

Methods

Nine hundred ninety-five patients were randomly selected from all individuals who were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection following nasopharyngeal swabbing. They were interviewed to assess persistence of symptoms and health-related quality of life using a post-COVID questionnaire and the Short Form Survey (SF-36), respectively. Blood investigations were also carried out.

Results

The median (interquartile range, IQR) age was 49 (36–60) years and 43.3% were men. At a median follow-up of 811 days, 21% of participants were feeling worse than they had felt before COVID-19. The most common symptoms were abnormal taste of food (41.8%), anosmia (40.8%), fatigue (25.9%), headache (22.4%), shortness of breath (22.1%), and myalgia (21.8%). The SF-36 questionnaire revealed that hospitalised patients fared worse only with respect to physical functioning when compared to non-hospitalised patients (p = 0.003). Patients with persistent fatigue or shortness of breath were found to have significantly elevated platelet count and serum liver enzymes as well as lower albumin levels following multivariate adjustment, suggesting ongoing inflammation and liver injury. Hospitalised participants had significantly higher troponin levels as well as lower eGFR, when compared to non-hospitalised participants.

Conclusions

A significant proportion of post-COVID patients were symptomatic at a median follow-up of 881 days; symptomatic participants exhibited deranged biochemical markers in keeping with ongoing inflammation and liver injury. Hospitalised patients had higher troponin levels suggesting underlying myocardial injury. Further studies should thus assess whether such changes persist at longer follow-up.