Long COVID Symptoms and Five Dimensions of HRQoL: A Retrospective Regional Study of Patients Recovered from COVID-19 Infection in Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND/AIM: 10-20% of people infected with the coronavirus infection have long COVID symptoms, therefore, current research is the first regional assessment in Saudi Arabia to determine the relationship between long-term health complaints of COVID-19 survivors and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

METHODS

The study population comprised COVID-19 infection cases registered in the Ha'il region of Saudi Arabia from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic until September 2022. A retrospective research design was employed, and 295 participants completed a self-report questionnaire to assess long COVID symptoms and the Arabic version of the European 5-Dimensional Quality of Life (EQ-5D). Multiple linear regression was used to evaluate the predictive role of long COVID symptoms on the HRQoL of patients by choosing (p-value < 0.05).

RESULTS

The mean (SD) age of the participants was 38 years, (67.1%) were male and (58.6%) were married. On the long COVID-19 symptoms, the highest mean values were fatigue (M=2.3; 95% CI 2.1-2.4) followed by headache (M=2.1; 95% CI 2.0-2.3) and persistent cough (M=1.9; 95% CI 1.8-2.1). Findings show that HRQoL was problematic in domains of pain/discomfort as depicted by a highest mean score on this domain (M=4.24; 95% CI 4.14-4.33) followed by anxiety/depression (M=4.17: 95% CI 4.08-4.27). Multiple regression analysis showed that marital status (p=0.05), irregular exercise (p<0.01), duration of hospitalization (p<0.01), and oxygen therapy (p<0.05) were the independent background factors affecting HRQoL post-COVID-19. Among the long-COVID-19 symptoms, fatigue (p=0.05), persistent cough (p=0.001), dyspnea (p=0.02), and sexual dysfunction (p<0.001) were the independent factors that impacted the HRQoL after controlling for background variables.

CONCLUSION

The study has significant implications for Saudi Arabia's Health Sector Transformation Program that could achieve its goals of human centric care and patient satisfaction though addressing the negative impacts of specific long-COVID symptoms such as fatigue, persistent cough, dyspnea and sexual dysfunction and improving the HRQoL in domains of pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression.