Main Predictors of Decreasing in Quality of Life in Patients With Post-COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective

We aimed to assess physical and psychosomatic manifestations of patients with long COVID and their association with a decreased patient’s quality of life (QOL) or different times elapsed since the COVID-19 diagnosis.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study. We retrospectively collected the clinical characteristics of adult patients who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and had symptoms at least as early as 4 weeks after COVID-19 in México City between April 2020 and February 2021. A total of 179 were included. They answered questions to define chronic symptoms. The Sniffin’ Sticks Screening 12 test olfactory evaluation was performed. The diminish of QOL was defined by ≥10 points in the EuroQol visual analog scale between pre- and post-COVID-19, and each dimension of EQ-5D-5L test was evaluated. Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, Student t test, Wilcoxon rank-sum, and signed-rank test were used as required. A backward stepwise logistic regression analysis determined the factors associated with a decrease in QOL. All analyses were performed using R software version 3.6.3 (R Foundation).

Results

In the multivariable analysis, post-COVID-19 pain/discomfort (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.5 [1.66-9.68]; P = .01), anxiety/depression (aOR 13 [1.44-17.23]; P = .03), and persistence of ≥3 symptoms (aOR 2.6 [0.96-7.47]; P = .05) remained statistically significant associated with decreased QOL.

Conclusions

Patients with long COVID-19 have decreased QOL mainly associated with pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression, and ≥3 persistent symptoms. Our findings enhanced the notion of a strong psychosomatic factors involved with long COVID-19. Therefore, these patients might benefit from neuropsychological rehabilitation, although the effect of such interventions should be evaluated.