Abstract:
Objective: This multicenter study investigated the recovery curve of the number of post-COVID symptoms in previously hospitalized survivors by using an exponential decay model and mosaic plots.
Methods: Patients hospitalized during the first wave of the pandemic (from March 10 to May 31, 2020) due to COVID-19 from five hospitals in Madrid (Spain) were scheduled for two telephone interviews at two follow-ups with a five-month period in between and were asked about the presence of post-COVID symptoms. The total number of post-COVID symptoms was monitored. Clinical features, symptoms at hospital admission, and hospitalization data were collected from medical records.
Results: A total of 1,593 COVID-19 survivors were assessed 8.4 (T1) and 13.2 (T2) months after hospitalization. The mean number of post-COVID symptoms was 2.6 (SD 2.0) at T1 and 1.5 (SD 1.4) at T2. The trajectory curve showed a decrease prevalence trend. The analysis also revealed that 985 (61.8%) subjects reported a greater number (T1>T2), 549 (34.5%) equal number (T1 =T2) and 59 (3.7%) lower number (T1<T2) of post-COVID symptoms in the first (T1: 8.4 months) in comparison with the second (T2: 13.2 months) assessment.
Conclusion: Current trajectory analysis revealed an overall decrease in the tendency in the number of post-COVID symptoms throughout the two years after the infection.
Source: Fernández-de-Las-Peñas C, Martín-Guerrero JD, Cancela-Cilleruelo I, Moro-López-Menchero P, Rodríguez-Jiménez J, Pellicer-Valero OJ. Exploring the Trajectory Recovery Curve of the number of Post-COVID Symptoms: The LONG-COVID-EXP-CM Multicenter Study. Int J Infect Dis. 2022 Feb 9:S1201-9712(22)00083-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2022.02.010. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35150911; PMCID: PMC8826603. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8826603/ (Full text)