Differences in treatment and post-COVID symptoms in elderly and young patients: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Long COVID is of particular concern among older people, who are at greater risk than young-er people of persisting symptoms associated with COVID-19. In addition, COVID-19 might trigger or exacerbate chronic conditions that occur commonly in older people, such as cardio-vascular diseases, respiratory diseases and others.Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in the type of treatment and post-COVID symptoms in the elderly versus young patients.Material and methods:Alternative, non-parametric and correlation analyses were used. Logical units of observation: Two hundred patients suffered from COVID-19 in the period from 01.09.2021 until 01.09.2022.Results:The majority of those examined were women - 58.5%. Age turned out to be a key factor in the disease. As age increases, cardiac complaints also increase p=0.001 (χ2=79.51). The corre-lation relationship is straight and significant p=0.001 (r=0.619).In the studied group, "shortness of breath" was more often experienced by the elderly com-pared to the young patients p=0.001 (χ2=17.90), p=0.001(r=0.278).Regarding the symptom "hair loss" gender was found to have a key role in women p=0.001 (χ2=5.04) and the symptom "fatigue" p=0.001 (χ2=9.60).The analysis of our study shows that the majority were treated on an outpatient basis, and the rest - 29.5% - received their treatment in a hospital.Conclusion:In conclusion, this study underscores the multifaceted nature of post-COVID recovery, influ-enced by demographic factors, vaccination status, and the presence of comorbidities.