Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: Nine Months after SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Cohort of 354 Patients: Data from the First Wave of COVID-19.., 2021, Zayet et al

Full title: Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: Nine Months after SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Cohort of 354 Patients: Data from the First Wave of COVID-19 in Nord Franche-Comté Hospital, France.

Abstract

(1) Background. Post-COVID-19 syndrome is defined as the persistence of symptoms after confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.

(2) Methods. ANOSVID is an observational retrospective study in Nord Franche-Comté Hospital in France that included adult COVID-19 patients confirmed by RT-PCR from 1 March 2020 to 31 May 2020. The aim was to describe patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome with persistent symptoms (PS group) and to compare them with the patients without persistent symptoms (no-PS group).

(3) Results. Of the 354 COVID-19 patients, 35.9% (n = 127) reported persistence of at least one symptom after a mean of 289.1 ± 24.5 days after symptom onset. Moreover, 115 patients reported a recurrence of symptoms after recovery, and only 12 patients reported continuous symptoms. The mean age of patients was 48.6 years (19–93) ± 19.4, and 81 patients (63.8%) were female. Patients in the PS group had a longer duration of symptoms of initial acute SARS-CoV-2 infection than patients in the no-PS group (respectively, 57.1 ± 82.1 days versus 29.7 ± 42.1 days, p < 0.001). A majority of patients (n = 104, 81.9%) reported three or more symptoms. The most prevalent persistent symptoms were loss of smell (74.0%, n = 94), fatigue (53.5%, n = 68), loss of taste (31.5%, n = 40), and dyspnea (30.7%, n = 39). These were followed by pain symptoms (26.8% (n = 34), 26.0% (n = 33), 24.4% (n = 31); headache, arthralgia, and myalgia, respectively). More than half of patients reporting persistent symptoms (58%, n = 73) were healthcare workers (HCWs). Among outpatients, this population was more present in the PS group than the no-PS group ((86.6%) n = 71/82 versus (72.2%) n = 109/151, p = 0.012). Post-COVID-19 syndrome was more frequent in patients with a past history of chronic rhinosinusitis (8.7% (n = 11%) versus 1.3% (n = 3), p < 0.001). No significant difference was found regarding clinical characteristics and outcome, laboratory, imaging findings, and treatment received in the two groups.

(4) Conclusions. More than a third of our COVID-19 patients presented persistent symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly through loss of smell, loss of taste, fatigue, and dyspnea, with a high prevalence in HCWs among COVID-19 outpatients.

Open access, https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/8/1719/htm

 

I wish they would focus on severity of symptoms and impact on daily life, rather than merely listing number of symptoms.

 

Yes, it seems that the authors defined the group with persistent symptoms as anyone reporting any symptom, regardless of severity. they write:

The PS group was defined by patients who reported the persistence of at least one symptom (when they filled in the online questionnaire), and the no-PS group was defined by patients who fully recovered without any persistent symptoms.
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In that case, it shouldn't come as a surprise that a third of people report symptoms. Only half of the people with symptoms (19% of the total sample) reported fatigue (not severe fatigue, but just fatigue). So that indicates that this group is much larger than the minority of patients who report ME/CFS-like symptoms following COVID-19.

Like Snow Leopard says, instead of counting the number of people that reports symptoms, they should look at the % that meets a specific threshold for disability (for example ME/CFS diagnostic criteria) after COVID-19 compared to a control group that did not have COVID-19. It's quite frustrating that we still haven't seen a decent study on this...

 

Bit embarrassing that 1.5 years into this, the very best paper on this remains the 2nd Body Politic study. There is just no depth to most of those studies, they stick to the most superficial aspects. Just endlessly doing the exact same thing, never adding anything to the whole.