Ansah Edward W, Salu Promise Kwame, Daanko Martin S, Banaaleh David N, Amoadu Mustapha
Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
BMJ Open. 2025 Jan 7;15(1):e088983. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-088983.
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused global devastations in social, economic and health systems of every nation, but disproportionately of nations in Africa. In addition to its grave effects on the global systems, there is continuation or development of new symptoms among individuals who have contracted the virus, with the potential to further stress the health systems on the continent. Therefore, the aim of this scoping review was to collate and summarise the existing research evidence on the prevalence and health effects of post-COVID-19 conditions in Africa.
Five main databases were thoroughly searched from 1 September 2023 to 10 May 2024 for eligible articles based on the pre-established inclusion and exclusion criteria. These databases included PubMed, Central, Scopus, Dimensions AI and JSTOR. A total of 17 papers were included in the review. The protocol for this review is already published in BMJ Open; doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2023-082519.
The prevalence of post-COVID-19 conditions in Africa ranged from 2% to as high as 94.7%. Fatigue, dyspnoea and brain fog were among the commonly reported symptoms of post-COVID-19 conditions. Reduced functional status as well as physical and psychosocial disorders were the main health effects reported by the studies reviewed, but no study yet reported the effects of post-COVID-19 conditions on the health systems in Africa.
There is an evidence of high prevalence of post-COVID-19 conditions in the African setting. However, there is limited evidence of the health effects of the post-COVID-19 conditions on patients and health systems in Africa.
This scoping review involved analysis of secondary data; therefore, no ethical approval was needed. Dissemination of the result is being done through international journals and may also be presented at available research conferences.
严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）大流行给各国的社会、经济和卫生系统带来了全球性破坏，非洲国家所受影响尤为严重。除了对全球系统造成严重影响外，感染该病毒的个体中还持续出现或出现了新症状，这有可能给非洲大陆的卫生系统带来更大压力。因此，本范围综述的目的是整理和总结关于非洲新冠后状况的患病率及其对健康影响的现有研究证据。
根据预先确定的纳入和排除标准，于2023年9月1日至2024年5月10日对五个主要数据库进行了全面检索，以查找符合条件的文章。这些数据库包括PubMed、CENTRAL、Scopus、Dimensions AI和JSTOR。本综述共纳入17篇论文。本综述的方案已发表于《英国医学杂志公开版》；doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2023-082519。
非洲新冠后状况的患病率从2%到高达94.7%不等。疲劳、呼吸困难和脑雾是新冠后状况常见的报告症状。所综述的研究报告的主要健康影响包括功能状态下降以及身体和心理社会障碍，但尚无研究报告新冠后状况对非洲卫生系统的影响。
有证据表明非洲背景下新冠后状况的患病率很高。然而，关于新冠后状况对非洲患者和卫生系统健康影响的证据有限。
本范围综述涉及对二手数据的分析；因此，无需伦理批准。研究结果将通过国际期刊进行传播，也可能在现有的研究会议上展示。
