Presence of pain and general health status assessment in COVID-19 survivors

Abstract

Introduction: With the scarcity of information on the sequelae left by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (COVID-19), several studies have focused on the observation of symptoms after discharge from these patients. Objective: To identify the presence of pain and the general health status after hospital discharge of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19. Evaluate and
compare and correlate the analyzed variables. Methods: Observational crosssectional study with 53 patients after discharge from hospital by COVID-19. Participants answered a structured questionnaire by telephone, where they were asked about their general health status, quality of sleep, levels of anxiety, dizziness, tiredness in carrying out daily activities and spontaneous pain. The
results were compared before and after admission. Results: The mean age was 53 years old (±13.69), with the majority being male (56.60%). The average hospital stay was 9 days. Telephone contact was made, on average, 252 (±62) days after hospital discharge. Of the participants, 58.49% had some comorbidity prior to hospitalization. The average self-perceived general health status was 7.23 (±1.59) after discharge. The percentage of individuals who had trouble sleeping was 25.76% before admission and rose to 47.75% after admission. Anxiety levels increased from 37.49% to 56.15%. For the performance of daily activities, 17.87% of participants felt tired before hospitalization, this value increased to 68.78% after hospital discharge. Spontaneous pain was present before hospitalization for 29.03% of participants, after hospitalization, 68.75% started to experience spontaneous pain. It was possible to perceive worse levels of general health, when the participants presented greater difficulty to sleep, greater levels of anxiety and greater difficulty to carry out their activities of daily living. Conclusion: Long-term sequelae were detected in patients after infection
with COVID-19. Sleep disturbances, anxiety, tiredness and spontaneous pain were observed in the participants.