Shukla AK, Atal S, Banerjee A, Jhaj R, Balakrishnan S, Chugh PK, Xavier D, Faruqui A, Singh A, Raveendran R, Mathaiyan J, Gauthaman J, Parmar UI, Tripathi RK, Kamat SK, Trivedi N, Shah P, Chauhan J, Dikshit H, Mishra H, Kumar R, Badyal DK, Sharma M, Singla M, Medhi B, Prakash A, Joshi R, Chatterjee NS, Cherian JJ, Kamboj VP, Kshirsagar N. An observational multi-centric COVID-19 sequelae study among health care workers.
Lancet Reg Health Southeast Asia 2023;
10:100129. [PMID:
36531928 DOI:
10.1016/j.lansea.2022.100129]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2022] [Revised: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 11/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Background
India has seen more than 43 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of April 2022, with a recovery rate of 98.8%, resulting in a large section of the population including the healthcare workers (HCWs), susceptible to develop post COVID sequelae. This study was carried out to assess the nature and prevalence of medical sequelae following COVID-19 infection, and risk factors, if any.
Methods
This was an observational, multicenter cross-sectional study conducted at eight tertiary care centers. The consenting participants were HCWs between 12 and 52 weeks post discharge after COVID-19 infection. Data on demographics, medical history, clinical features of COVID-19 and various symptoms of COVID sequelae was collected through specific questionnaire.
Finding
Mean age of the 679 eligible participants was 31.49 ± 9.54 years. The overall prevalence of COVID sequelae was 30.34%, with fatigue (11.5%) being the most common followed by insomnia (8.5%), difficulty in breathing during activity (6%) and pain in joints (5%). The odds of having any sequelae were significantly higher among participants who had moderate to severe COVID-19 (OR 6.51; 95% CI 3.46-12.23) and lower among males (OR 0.55; 95% CI 0.39-0.76). Besides these, other predictors for having sequelae were age (≥45 years), presence of any comorbidity (especially hypertension and asthma), category of HCW (non-doctors vs doctors) and hospitalisation due to COVID-19.
Interpretation
Approximately one-third of the participants experienced COVID sequelae. Severity of COVID illness, female gender, advanced age, co-morbidity were significant risk factors for COVID sequelae.
Funding
This work is a part of Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR)- Rational Use of Medicines network. No additional financial support was received from ICMR to carry out the work, for study materials, medical writing, and APC.
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