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Impairment of Social-Related Quality of Life in COVID-19 Pneumonia Survivors: A Prospective Longitudinal Study.

Takahiro AndoSho ShimadaJun SugiharaKoji TakayamaMasayoshi KobayashiYoshihiro MiyashitaTatsuya ItoKaori OkayasuShun TsuyukiTakehiko OhbaMasafumi DoiHiroaki SaitoToshihide FujieTomoshige ChiakiAtsushi NakagawaTatsuhiko AnzaiKunihiko TakahashiSho ShibataTomoya TateishiYasunari Miyazaki
Published in: Journal of clinical medicine (2023)
The post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) pose a threat to patients' health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Here, the impact of COVID-19 on HRQOL and the clinical factors associated with impaired HRQOL were examined. Discharged COVID-19 patients were assessed at 3 and 6 months after disease onset. The patients completed a medical examination and the SF-36 questionnaire at these two time points and underwent pulmonary function testing at 6 months after disease onset. All had undergone computed tomography (CT) imaging upon hospital admission. Of the 74 included patients, 38% reported respiratory symptoms at 3 months, and 26% reported respiratory symptoms at 6 months after disease onset. The aggregated SF-36 scores declined in the role/social component summary (RCS), a category related to social activity. Patients with lower RCS tended to have respiratory sequelae or a relatively lower forced vital capacity. The CT score that reflected the extent of COVID-19 pneumonia was inversely correlated with the RCS score (3 months, p = 0.0024; 6 months, p = 0.0464). A high CT score (≥10 points) predicted a low RCS score at 6 months ( p = 0.013). This study highlights the impairment of RCS and its associations with respiratory sequelae. The study also emphasizes the importance of radiological findings in predicting long-term HRQOL outcomes after COVID-19.
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