DISCUSSION
As of July 2021, more than 182 million confirmed COVID-19 cases
worldwide have been reported.25 Individuals
experienced long COVID symptoms had a decline in quality of life after
COVID-19 illness.26,27 Therefore, understanding
effects of long COVID symptoms in life is essential both an individual
and populational level.
This study fills an important knowledge gap in measuring the impact of
pandemic on COVID-19 quality of life in terms of long COVID.
In this study, it was determined that the impact of the pandemic on the
COVID-19 quality of life was high (median score 3.0), and health
perception was moderate (median score 40.0) among participants. This
finding was expected and suggests that long COVID symptoms deteriorates
quality of life and health perception. This study supports evidence from
previous observation.11
It has been reported that the prevalence of persistent symptoms in
COVID-19 disease is more common in individuals over the age of 40 and
the quality of life decreases with aging.28 This
previous finding broadly supports the current study that the impact of
the pandemic on the COVID-19 quality of life increased with aging. A
possible explanation for this might be that relationship between aging
and existing chronic disease.
This present study observed that the greatest impact of the pandemic on
the COVID-19 quality of life were seen in individuals with less than
high school education. As the level of education increased, the impact
of the pandemic on the quality of life decreased. Of course, the
positive effect of higher education level on the health and well-being
is undeniable.
In the study, respondents were asked to explain whether they were
suffering from existing chronic conditions (such as diabetes, heart
disease, respiratory disease) before the infected with COVID-19.
Approximately 40% of the participants stated that they suffered from
any chronic disease. The greater impact of the pandemic on COVID-19
quality of life is particularly evident in those with existing chronic
diseases. The combination of comorbid conditions with COVID-19 disease,
may slow recovery time, decrease quality of life and are not surprising
results. Indeed, it has been reported that the existing chronic diseases
were highly predictive in the quality of life of long COVID-19
survivors.29
Previous studies have often focused on quality of life in hospitalized
patients due to ongoing persistent symptoms after being discharged that
may lead to delay in regaining previous health.30,31In the present study, consistent with the literature, the impact of the
pandemic on the COVID-19 quality of life was quite evident in
hospitalized individuals. In COVID-19 disease, individuals with severe
disease are hospitalized. Disease severity may be affected by underlying
comorbidities and advanced age. The current result highlights the need
for a long-term follow-up clinical care and rehabilitation programs for
hospitalized patients.
More than one symptom combination appear in the long COVID picture
commonly.16 In this study, as the combination of
symptoms increased, a significant increase was observed in the impact of
the pandemic on the COVID-19 quality of life. Also this study supports
evidence from previous observations that fatigue was the most commonly
reported symptom.11,31,32 Long COVID-19 includes both
ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 (from 4 to 12 weeks) and post-COVID-19
syndrome (12 weeks or more).33 The most important
clinically relevant finding was that symptoms lasted 1-3 months in about
half of the participants and long duration of symptoms increased the
impact of the pandemic on covıd-19 quality of life. The observed
increase could be attributed to combination of symptoms. The longer the
symptoms last, the greater the impact of the pandemic on COVID-19
quality of life.
Although the relationship between suffering from long-term COVID
symptoms and how long ago individuals were infected is unknown, it is
clear that, time since first infected significantly related with quality
of life in this study. Quality of life worsens when persistent symptoms
are prolonged.11 Perceived health was negatively
correlated with COV19-QoL. As the perception of health increased, the
impact of the pandemic on the quality of life decreased.