Susanto Agus Dwi, Isbaniah Fathiyah, Pratomo Irandi Putra, Antariksa Budhi, Samoedro Erlang, Taufik Muhammad, Harinda Fadlika, Nurwidya Fariz
MD, PhD, FAPSR, Department of Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia - Persahabatan National Respiratory Referral Hospital, Jalan Persahabatan Raya no.1, Rawamangun Jakarta 13230, Indonesia and Indonesian Society of Respirology, Jakarta, Indonesia.
MD, PhD, Department of Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia - Persahabatan National Respiratory Referral Hospital, Jalan Persahabatan Raya no.1, Rawamangun Jakarta 13230, Indonesia, and Indonesian Society of Respirology, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Germs. 2022 Jun 30;12(2):158-168. doi: 10.18683/germs.2022.1319. eCollection 2022 Jun.
Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) manifests in a broad clinical spectrum. COVID-19 survivors report various symptoms up to several months after being infected. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of persistent COVID-19 syndrome in Indonesia, the factors that influence the incidence, and the quality of life.
This was a cross-sectional study with an online questionnaire conducted in January 2021. Inclusion criteria were: adult Indonesian citizens who had recovered from COVID-19, and were confirmed negative by RT-PCR of nasal swabs or had undergone an isolation period for a minimum of 14 days. Data analysis was performed by the Chi-square test, followed by multivariate analysis with the backward likelihood ratio method.
From a total of 385 respondents, 256 (66.5%) experienced persistent COVID-19 syndrome. The most prevalent symptoms were fatigue (29.4%), cough (15.5%), and muscle pain (11.2%). Of the five aspects of quality of life, the most commonly reported aspects were pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. The risk of persistent COVID-19 syndrome was significantly higher in subjects with older age, comorbidities, higher clinical severity, previous treatment in hospital, presence of pneumonia, and those who had required oxygen therapy. In the multivariate analysis, the most influential factor for the incidence of persistent COVID-19 syndrome was pneumonia (aOR 2.31, 95% CI 1.29-4.11, p<0.002).
The prevalence of the persistent COVID-19 syndrome in Indonesia was high, which affects the quality of life of COVID-19 survivors. Pneumonia was the main factor that influenced the incidence of persistent COVID-19 syndrome. Further research with a larger sample size and a longer study time is recommended to control COVID-19 and its impact on the health and quality of life of COVID-19 survivors.
