Long-term COVID-19 or coronavirus risk is linked to female gender, hypertension, and the frequency of first symptoms.
 |
| Image: Coronavirus or COVID-19 | InStyleHealth |
Women, hypertensives, and individuals with a higher
number of early symptoms had a higher likelihood of having protracted COVID-19 (coronavirus),
according to a study, and these relationships are independent of illness
severity and clinical course.
The study comprised 316 COVID-19 patients (mean age 64 years, 59% male) who were discharged and observed for four months. The median number of symptoms at the time of admission was five. Hyperthermia (79.1%), cough (70.6%), dyspnea (68%) and myalgia (68%) were the most prevalent (50.6 percent).
201 patients (63.6 percent) reported at least one
persisting symptom following a median follow-up of 115 days after hospital
release. Dyspnea (39.2%) and asthenia were the most common chronic symptoms
(37.1 percent).
Patients who had a protracted COVID-19 had a higher
prevalence of hypertension than those who had a symptom-free follow-up. During
hospitalization, there was no difference in the need for oxygen therapy,
admission to the critical care unit, inflammatory markers, or CT-scan
abnormalities between the two groups.
In a multivariate logistic regression model, female
sex (odds ratio [OR], 1.94, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.17–3.22;
p=0.01), hypertension (OR, 2.01, 95 percent CI, 1.22–3.31; p0.01), and a higher
number of initial symptoms (OR, 1.35, 95 percent CI, 1.17–1.54; p0.001) were
all associated with persistent symptoms.
Further analysis revealed that the number of
persistent symptoms was related to the number of initial symptoms (aIRR, 1.16,
95 percent CI, 1.11–1.22; p0.001), as well as female sex (aIRR, 1.56, 95
percent CI, 1.29–1.87; p0.001), hypertension (aIRR, 1.23, 95 percent CI,
1.02–1.50; p=0.03), and hospital stay length (aIRR, 1.01, 95 percent CI,
1.005–1.017; p<0.001).
The information presented here could be utilized to
prioritize early intervention and rehabilitation efforts.