Persistence of symptoms after improvement of acute COVID19 infection, a longitudinal study

Abdelrahman, Mona Mohammed; Abd‐Elrahman, Noha Mohammed; Bakheet, Tasneem Mohammed

With the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) infected patients increasing all over the world, a large number of survivors have reported changes in their quality of life or experienced re‐infection. So, we aimed to detect the percentage, type, and risk factors of persistent symptoms after improvement from acute COVID‐19 infection and to detect the percentage of COVID‐19 re‐infection and degree of severity of the second infection. One hundred seventy‐two (59 male, 113 female) patients who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) were followed up via mobile phone every 2 months for 8 to 10 months. After recovery, 105 patients (61%) (30 male, 75 female) reported one or more COVID‐19 persistent symptoms. Fatigue, dyspnea, and depression were the most common persistent symptoms representing 37.3%, 22%, 22%, respectively. We found that age was independently related to the persistence of symptoms. During the follow‐up, six females (3.5%) had laboratory‐confirmed COVID‐19 re‐infection. Their mean age was 35.7 ± 11 years. The mean interval from the complete recovery of the first infection to the onset of the second one was 53 ± 22.2 days and ranged from 30 to 90 days. The second infection was milder in severity than the first infection in 83.33% of cases. There was a high percentage of patients who complained of persistent symptoms after recovery from COVID‐19. Fatigue and headache were the most common persistent symptoms. Age was considered a risk factor for persistent symptoms. Re‐infection with SARS‐CoV‐2 can occur after recovery.