Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has cost a large number of lives worldwide. Most of the COVID-19 patients recover within two weeks of illness, but many survivors are experiencing different post COVID-19 clinical complications. In this cross-sectional retrospective study, we investigated the immediate and post COVID-19 complications with secondary effects in symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients of Bangladesh. A total of 632 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from December, 2020 to February, 2021 were included in this study. The data were collected by telephone interview with patients consent and reviewing their call records using questionnaire and checklist. Results demonstrate that among the 632 patients, 77.53 % of cases were symptomatic, where fever was the most common symptom (82.24%). The other symptoms were headache (58.16%), sore throat (53.65%), cough (45.51%), weakness (41.22%), breathlessness (40%), loss of smell (37.55%), tastelessness (31.84%), diarrhea (19.39%), and vomiting (14.69%). Comorbidities like asthma, hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), cardiovascular disease, and other chronic diseases were pronounced in symptomatic patients. Post COVID-19 complications varied significantly (P<0.05) between the symptomatic and asymptomatic observations. Asthma, hypertension, and diabetes were newly reported in symptomatic patients with the rate of 3.06 %, 2.45 %, and 2.24 %, respectively, while the proportions were 1.41%, 1.41%, and 0.70% for the asymptomatic group. Tiredness, weight loss, hair loss, and insomnia were the most observed post COVID-19 complications found higher in symptomatic patients than in asymptomatic groups. A newly developed visual anomaly was also identified in the symptomatic group (1.42%), which was absent in asymptomatic COVID-19 recovered patients. These findings concluded that post-COVID-19 complications were high in symptomatic and comorbid patients compared with asymptomatic individuals. We hope that this study will contribute in post COVID-19 management and help the concerned authority toward decision making in the treatment of post-COVID-19 complications. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. 2021, 7 (2), 191-201
Highlights
Coronaviruses are large, positive-stranded, protein enveloped RNA viruses that are distributed broadly among birds, humans, and other mammals (Weiss and Leibowitz, 2011)
Patients who were tested negative after two consecutive Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests at least at a gap of 24 hrs and 28 days prior to the interview date were considered for studying post-COVID-19 complications in individuals
Demographic information of COVID-19 positive patients The demographic profile of symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients varied in our study participants (Table 1)
Summary
Coronaviruses are large, positive-stranded, protein enveloped RNA viruses that are distributed broadly among birds, humans, and other mammals (Weiss and Leibowitz, 2011). A total of seven different species of coronaviruses are found to infect humans. The species named 229E, OC43, NL63, and HKU1 have been considered inconsequential pathogens causing the ―common cold‖ in immunocompetent individuals.
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