Post-COVID conditions: a Portuguese primary care study

Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention propose the term long COVID or post-COVID conditions for symptoms that develop during or after COVID-19, continue for at least two months, and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed at estimating the proportion of COVID-19 patients that presented post-COVID conditions, describing their baseline characteristics and main persisting symptoms. We included 497 adult patients who had recovered from mild to moderate COVID-19, using a structured questionnaire, 12 to 16 weeks after disease onset. The cumulative incidence for post-COVID conditions was 47.5% (n=236). The most frequent symptoms were fatigue (n=151, 30.4%) and dyspnea (n=131, 26.4%). After adjusting for covariables male gender was found to be associated with lower odds of post-COVID conditions (OR=0.36, p<0.001). Body Mass Index <20 (OR=0.28, p=0.014) and [30-35[ (OR=0.42, p=0.006) seemed to have less persistent symptoms when compared to [20-25[. No other baseline demographic or clinical features were found to be significantly associated with post-COVID conditions. Our study suggests that post-COVID conditions persist in a large subset of non-severe diseases. Physicians should continue to monitor these patients to identify and treat post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly in what concerns primary care.