Symptoms in the Long Period after the Coronavirus Infection: Results of Long-Term Follow-Up

Background: assessment of type, prevalence and duration of residual symptoms after COVID-19 in recent studies is controversial because of differences in design. Aim: to assess the prevalence and severity of symptoms in the long-term period after COVID-19. Materials and methods: patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the period 13.04.2020-10.06.2020 were interviewed by phone: 195 (58,2 %) convalescents at 143 (131-154) days after disease onset and 183 (54,6 % ) of them at 340 (325-351) days. Results: The subjective assessment of health status with 100-point scale before and after the COVID-19 was 95 (80-100) and 80 (70-96) points, p< 0,001, at first interview; 90 (80-100) and 80 (60-90) points, p< 0,001, at second one. Various complaints were detected in 63 % of respondents at the first interview and in 75 % at the second, the number of identified symptoms was 2 (0-6) and 4 (1-8) respectively. The most frequent complaints were weakness/fatigue (31.3 and 47.5 % of respondents), joint pain (31.3 and 47.5 %) and dyspnoe/shortness of breath (31.3 and 43.2 %). The growth of these indicators can be associated with a change in the interview methodology. The severity of the symptoms at second interview was low: fatigue — 3 (0-6) points, shortness of breath — 0 (0-3) points; joint pain, weakness and dyspnoe — 0 (0-5) points each. Conclusion: a decrease of health status can sustain for a long time after COVID-19. Symptoms persist in a significant proportion of convalescents, but their severity in the end of follow-up is quite low.