Abstract
There is currently very limited information on the nature and prevalence of post-COVID-19 symptoms after hospital discharge. A purposive sample of 100 survivors discharged from a large University hospital were assessed 4 to 8 weeks after discharge by a multidisciplinary team of rehabilitation professionals using a specialist telephone screening tool designed to capture symptoms and impact on daily life. EQ-5D-5L telephone version was also completed. Participants were between 29 and 71 days (mean 48 days) postdischarge from hospital. Thirty-two participants required treatment in intensive care unit (ICU group) and 68 were managed in hospital wards without needing ICU care (ward group). New illness-related fatigue was the most common reported symptom by 72% participants in ICU group and 60.3% in ward group. The next most common symptoms were breathlessness (65.6% in ICU group and 42.6% in ward group) and psychological distress (46.9% in ICU group and 23.5% in ward group). There was a clinically significant drop in EQ5D in 68.8% in ICU group and in 45.6% in ward group. This is the first study from the United Kingdom reporting on postdischarge symptoms. We recommend planning rehabilitation services to manage these symptoms appropriately and maximize the functional return of COVID-19 survivors.
Highlights
There is currently very limited information on the nature and prevalence of post‐COVID‐19 symptoms after hospital discharge
Patients predominantly had single‐organ dysfunction requiring oxygen or noninvasive ventilation and only one patient in this cohort was intubated. This low rate of intubation reflects the timing of this study in relation to the pandemic wave seen in our hospitals. Those who required intubation had largely not been discharged for long enough to be included in this study
Moderate or severe breathlessness was more often reported by females than males in the intensive care unit (ICU) group (53.8% compared with 21.1%) but the proportions were similar in the ward group (24.2% and 20.0%)
Summary
On 11 March 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO). An Italian study followed‐up 143 individuals 7 weeks postdischarge and found 53% reporting fatigue, 43% breathlessness, and 27% joint pain.[3] Postdischarge symptoms may be predicted from the previous coronavirus outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012. Our multidisciplinary rehabilitation team examined the impact of COVID‐19 on survivors discharged from hospital. This study reports the first systematic assessment (in the current literature) of postdischarge symptoms and rehabilitation needs in COVID‐19 survivors after hospital discharge
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