INTRODUCTION
The public health agenda of the 21st century, has been marked by the
coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) disease which started at the end of 2019 and
continues in 2021, and is transmitted from person to
person.1
An unknown pneumonia picture characterized by severe acute respiratory
tract infection symptoms has been reported from China in the early
stages of the disease.2 In this pneumonia picture, in
addition to the pulmonary system, nephrological3,
cardiac4,5, neurological6,
hematopoietic7and ophthalmic8involvements are observed. It has been shown that disease severity can
range from mild to critical, 81% of cases are mild to moderate, 14%
are severe and 5% are critical.9
Typically, symptoms of COVID-19 appear in individuals for 14 days from
the onset of symptoms, after which symptoms subside or completely
resolve, and contagiousness decreases.9,10 However,
clinical evidence demonstrates the persistence of clinical symptoms
after infection called post-COVID conditions – with varying consistency
and duration between infected individuals.11-15 The
long COVID that develops in post-COVID conditions is a wide variety of
new, recurring or lasting symptoms that may last for weeks or even
months, which those first infected may experience more than four weeks
later. Long COVID can be seen even in asymptomatic individuals. These
conditions can have different types and combinations of health problems
for different durations. Commonly reported combinations include fatigue
or weakness, brain fog (difficulty thinking or concentrating), fever,
headache, loss of smell or taste, dizziness when standing, palpitations,
chest pain, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, cough, joint
and muscle pain, symptoms worsening after physical or mental activities
are shown.16 Six months after the onset of acute
illness, 36.6%, 14.5%, and 5.2% of COVID-19 patients reported
prolonged symptoms in the moderate, severe, and very severe categories,
respectively. In particular, fatigue, shortness of breath and brain fog
have been shown to be among the main debilitating symptoms that lead to
a decrease in quality of life.17 On the other hand, it
is stated that prolonged COVID symptoms are a strong predictor on
general health perception.18
Considering all these reasons, individuals with a wide range of long
COVID-19 symptoms need early monitoring and close
follow-up.19 In population-based studies, the
prevalence of long COVID is estimated between
13.3-30.0%12,20 and given the size of the pandemic,
it is not yet clear how this low prevalence will guide the burden of
disease in the future.
On the other hand, the cause of persistent symptoms and the long-term
health effects of these symptoms on quality of life and long-term health
are not clear, and there is no standard guideline for the management of
this problem. As a vulnerable group of the COVID-19 disease,
comprehensive epidemiological investigation and clinical evaluation for
individuals with long COVID are important to prevent future sequelae and
start early rehabilitation.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of pandemic on COVID-19
quality of life and effecting factors among adults with long COVID.