Alenezi Faisal, Alsagheir Aeshah, Amer Samar, Alzubaidi Lamyia, Alhomod Abdul-Aziz S, Alamaa Tareef
Deputy Minister Assistant for Hospitals, Services, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Family and Home Health Care Consultant, Assistant Agency for Hospitals Services, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Front Public Health. 2025 Jul 30;13:1460324. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1460324. eCollection 2025.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, digital health transformation in healthcare services has undergone significant changes, especially in Saudi Arabia (SA), which was one of the first countries not only to battle the COVID-19 pandemic but also extended to post-COVID-19 conditions (PCCs) through a national project to provide a virtual assessment to COVID-19 patients at least 4 weeks after infection. Therefore, we conducted this study from 16 February to 16 June 2022 in SA to determine the frequency of PCCs, provide the necessary care, and identify the risk factors that delayed their return to their pre-COVID-19 health status.
A national project targeted all the registered 12,125 COVID-19 patients in the national register system by family physicians in the PCCs virtual clinics in the Medical Consultation Call Centre (937), using a validated assessment tool.
A total of 12,125 recovered COVID-19 patients were called and asked to complete a virtual assessment; 5,451 (45.1%) did not answer, and 5,913 (48.8%) agreed and finished the test; 4,973, or 84.2% of participants, did not report any PCCs. The most frequent PCCs were fatigue (201, 3.4%), coughing (246, 4.2%), dyspnea (209, 3.6%), loss of appetite or weight loss (43, 7.3%), and poor concentration (50, 8.4%). All they needed was assurance and information about health. A mere 384 (6.5%) needed to be referred to PHCCs. A number of factors were associated with the need for a referral, and the severity of the SARS-CoV-2 infection, age group, sex, vaccination status, and body mass index were significant predictors of returning to the pre-infection health status.
In SA, the response rate to the virtual post-COVID-19 clinics was low, and no-show was the main limitation. PCCs are a prevalent condition that requires further investigation. Many factors can predict the return of participants' pre-COVID-19 health status and participants' referral to post-COVID-19 clinics.
在新冠疫情期间，医疗服务中的数字健康转型发生了重大变化，尤其是在沙特阿拉伯（SA），该国不仅是最早抗击新冠疫情的国家之一，还通过一个国家项目将业务扩展到新冠后状况（PCCs），为新冠感染至少4周后的患者提供虚拟评估。因此，我们于2022年2月16日至6月16日在沙特阿拉伯开展了这项研究，以确定PCCs的发生率，提供必要的护理，并确定延迟恢复到新冠疫情前健康状态的风险因素。
一个国家项目通过医疗咨询呼叫中心（937）的PCCs虚拟诊所中的家庭医生，使用经过验证的评估工具，针对国家登记系统中所有登记的12125名新冠患者。
总共呼叫了12125名康复的新冠患者，并要求他们完成虚拟评估；5451人（45.1%）未接听，5913人（48.8%）同意并完成了测试；4973名参与者，即84.2%，未报告任何PCCs。最常见的PCCs是疲劳（201例，3.4%）、咳嗽（246例，4.2%）、呼吸困难（209例，3.6%）、食欲不振或体重减轻（43例，7.3%）以及注意力不集中（50例，8.4%）。他们所需要的只是关于健康的保证和信息。仅有384人（6.5%）需要转诊至初级卫生保健中心（PHCCs）。一些因素与转诊需求相关，而新冠病毒2感染的严重程度、年龄组、性别、疫苗接种状况和体重指数是恢复到感染前健康状态的重要预测因素。
在沙特阿拉伯，新冠后虚拟诊所的响应率较低，未就诊是主要限制因素。PCCs是一种普遍存在的状况，需要进一步调查。许多因素可以预测参与者恢复到新冠疫情前的健康状态以及他们转诊至新冠后诊所的情况。
