1Department of Community Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India
2Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
3Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College and Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi, India
4Department of Biochemistry, Maulana Azad Medical College and Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi, India
5Department of Pathology, Maulana Azad Medical College and Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi, India
6Department of Psychiatry, Maulana Azad Medical College and Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi, India
7Department of Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College and Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi, India
8Directorate General Health Services, Delhi, India
9National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi, India
© 2024 Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Ethics Approval
The Institutional Ethics Committee at MAMCand Associated Hospitals in New Delhi granted approval for the study, as documented in letter No. F.1/IEC/MAMC/87/05/2021/No526. All potential participants were informed about the study’s purpose, potential risks, and benefits. They were assured of confidentiality and informed that they had the option to withdraw from the study at any time if they wished. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. For medical/telehealth consultations and follow-up appointments, participants were referred to LNH.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Funding
The research received support from the Indian Council of Medical Research, Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. This support was provided in the form of funding through grant No. CTU/Cohort study/17/1025/2021/ECD. We express our gratitude for this assistance, which was instrumental in advancing our study and enhancing our comprehension of these key issues.
Availability of Data
The data supporting the findings of this study are available upon request from the corresponding author. They are not publicly accessible due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
Authors’ Contributions
Conceptualization: NB, MMS, SM, TA, SuS, SG; Data curation: HS, GS, US; Formal analysis: HS, SM, GS; Funding acquisition: NB, MMS; Investigation: HS, GS, SR, AB, TA, BG, SaS, MK, SuS, BK, NK; Methodology: NB, MMS, SM, TA, SuS, SG; Project administration: NB, MMS, HS, GS, SR, AB; Resources: NB; Software: HS, SM, GS; Supervision: NB, MMS, HS, SM, GS, SR, AB; Validation: NB, MMS; Writing–original draft: NB, MMS, HS, SM, GS; all authors. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Additional Information
This study was preprinted in medRxiv on August 25, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.08.25.23294654).
Biochemical parameter |
First follow-up |
Second follow-up |
||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Post-COVID-19 symptoms |
p* |
Post-COVID-19 symptoms |
p* | |||
Present | Absent | Present | Absent | |||
HbAlC (>6.5%) | 5.4 (0.9) | 5.3 (0.6) | 0.334 | 5.35 (1.2) | 5.2 (0.4) | 0.241 |
TSH (>4.68 mIU/L) | 2.98 (2.16) | 2.78 (2.01) | 0.385 | 3.07 (1.83) | 2.99 (2.11) | 0.284 |
AST (>59 IU/L) | 33 (12) | 33 (14) | 0.943 | 33 (14) | 34 (15) | 0.993 |
ALP (>126 IU/L) | 95 (34) | 100 (40) | 0.235 | 98 (36) | 101.5 (34) | 0.298 |
ALT (>50 IU/L) | 30 (22) | 29 (20) | 0.420 | 32 (21) | 30 (21) | 0.364 |
Creatinine (>1.3 mg/dL) | 0.7 (0.3) | 0.8 (0.2) | 0.103 | 0.80 (0.2) | 0.80 (0.2) | 0.233 |
Urea (>43 mg/dL) | 23 (10) | 25 (9) | 0.428 | 26 (7) | 25 (5) | 0.177 |
Uric acid (8.5 mg/dL) | 5.3 (2.15) | 5.35 (2.2) | 0.710 | 5.45 (2.0) | 5.1 (2) | 0.518 |
Characteristic | Post-COVID-19 |
Total | p | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Yes | No | |||
Sex | 0.03 | |||
Male | 46 (24.9) | 139 (75.1) | 185 (50.1) | |
Female | 29 (15.8) | 155 (84.2) | 184 (49.9) | |
Age (y) | 0.028 | |||
18–30 | 74 (71.2) | 30 (28.8) | 104 (28.2) | |
31–45 | 94 (81.7) | 21 (18.3) | 115 (31.2) | |
46–60 | 89 (80.9) | 21 (19.1) | 110 (29.8) | |
≥61 | 37 (92.5) | 3 (7.5) | 40 (10.8) | |
Smokers | 0.786 | |||
Current smoker | 15 (83.3) | 3 (16.7) | 18 (4.9) | |
Past smoker | 7 (87.5) | 1 (12.5) | 8 (2.2) | |
Never smoked | 272 (79.3) | 71 (20.7) | 343 (93.0) | |
Alcohol consumption | 0.684 | |||
No | 266 (79.4) | 69 (20.6) | 335 (90.8) | |
Yes | 28 (82.4) | 6 (17.6) | 34 (9.2) | |
Educational status | 0.4 | |||
Illiterate | 8 (100.0) | 0 (0) | 8 (2.2) | |
Primary and middle school | 26 (89.7) | 3 (10.3) | 29 (7.9) | |
High school | 25 (80.6) | 6 (19.4) | 31 (8.4) | |
Intermediate | 46 (78.0) | 13 (22.0) | 59 (16.0) | |
Graduate and above | 189 (78.1) | 53 (21.9) | 242 (65.6) | |
Vaccination status | 0.848 | |||
Vaccinated | 274 (79.4) | 71 (20.6) | 345 (93.5) | |
Unvaccinated | 12 (85.7) | 2 (14.3) | 14 (3.8) | |
Status unknown | 8 (0.8) | 2 (0.2) | 10 (2.7) | |
Morbidity profile | 0.393 | |||
Any comorbidity | 81 (82.7) | 17 (17.3) | 98 (26.6) | |
Obesity | 34 (89.5) | 4 (10.5) | 38 (10.3) | 0.113 |
Hypertension | 38 (79.2) | 10 (20.8) | 48 (13.0) | 0.877 |
Diabetes | 34 (87.2) | 5 (12.8) | 39 (10.6) | 0.354 |
Coronary heart disease | 6 (66.7) | 3 (3.3) | 9 (2.4) | 0.326 |
Chronic liver disease | 9 (100.0) | 0 (0) | 9 (2.4) | 0.27 |
Symptoms | Baseline (n=413) | Follow-up 1 |
Follow-up 2 |
PCoVS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Prevalence | Incidence | Prevalence | Incidence | Prevalence | ||
Any symptom | 196 (47.5) | 228 (61.8) | 107 (29.0) | 229 (62.1) | 39 (10.6) | 294 (79.7) |
Anxiousness | 41(9.9) | 84 (22.8) | 70 (19.0) | 43 (11.7) | 14 (3.8) | 105 (28.4) |
Join pain/swelling | 40 (9.7) | 75 (20.3) | 67 (18.2) | 89 (24.1) | 47 (12.7) | 133 (36.0) |
Persistent fatigue | 67 (16.2) | 66 (17.9) | 44 (11.9) | 26 (7.0) | 11 (3.0) | 80 (21.6) |
Shortness of breath | 28 (6.8) | 52 (14.1) | 38 (10.3) | 74 (20.1) | 45 (12.2) | 100 (27.1) |
Persistent body pain | 46 (11.1) | 46 (12.5) | 40 (10.8) | 48 (13.0) | 31 (8.4) | 83 (22.4) |
Weakness in limbs | 40 (9.7) | 48 (13.0) | 40 (10.8) | 34 (9.2) | 17 (4.6) | 69 (18.6) |
Forgetfulness | 17 (4.1) | 38 (10.3) | 34 (9.2) | 44 (11.9) | 30 (8.1) | 73 (19.7) |
Persistent dry cough | 46 (11.1) | 38 (10.3) | 30 (8.1) | 112 (30.4) | 84 (22.8) | 132 (35.7) |
Persistent headache | 27 (6.5) | 37 (10.0) | 32 (8.7) | 45 (12.2) | 33 (8.9) | 74 (20.0) |
Symptoms | Mean±SD (no. of days) | Median (IQR, no. of days) |
---|---|---|
Anxiousness (n=105) | 138.75±54.14 | 132 (97–190) |
Persistent Fatigue (n=80) | 137.57±48.33 | 127 (97–172) |
Shortness of breath (n=100) | 131.89±60.21 | 112.5 (88.25–181.50) |
Joint pain/swelling (n=133) | 131.59±58.76 | 115 (89–180) |
Persistent body pain (n= 83) | 127.48±47.44 | 124 (89–157) |
Persistent dry cough (n=132) | 121.01±56.48 | 105.5 (86–146) |
Weakness in limbs (n=69) | 120.91±49.34 | 109 (83–148.75) |
Forgetfulness (n=73) | 116.47±52.86 | 100 (87.5–145) |
Persistent headache (n=74) | 114.74±42.68 | 109.5 (87–139.50) |
Biochemical parameter | First follow-up |
Second follow-up |
||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Post-COVID-19 symptoms |
p |
Post-COVID-19 symptoms |
p |
|||
Present | Absent | Present | Absent | |||
HbAlC (>6.5%) | 5.4 (0.9) | 5.3 (0.6) | 0.334 | 5.35 (1.2) | 5.2 (0.4) | 0.241 |
TSH (>4.68 mIU/L) | 2.98 (2.16) | 2.78 (2.01) | 0.385 | 3.07 (1.83) | 2.99 (2.11) | 0.284 |
AST (>59 IU/L) | 33 (12) | 33 (14) | 0.943 | 33 (14) | 34 (15) | 0.993 |
ALP (>126 IU/L) | 95 (34) | 100 (40) | 0.235 | 98 (36) | 101.5 (34) | 0.298 |
ALT (>50 IU/L) | 30 (22) | 29 (20) | 0.420 | 32 (21) | 30 (21) | 0.364 |
Creatinine (>1.3 mg/dL) | 0.7 (0.3) | 0.8 (0.2) | 0.103 | 0.80 (0.2) | 0.80 (0.2) | 0.233 |
Urea (>43 mg/dL) | 23 (10) | 25 (9) | 0.428 | 26 (7) | 25 (5) | 0.177 |
Uric acid (8.5 mg/dL) | 5.3 (2.15) | 5.35 (2.2) | 0.710 | 5.45 (2.0) | 5.1 (2) | 0.518 |
Data are presented as
Data are presented as PCoVS, post-COVID-19 symptoms.
SD, standard deviation; IQR, interquartile range.
HbAlC, hemoglobin A1c; TSH, thyroid-stimulating hormone; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALP, alkaline phosphatase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase.