Abstract
Abstract
Background
Post-COVID syndrome (PCS) involves multisystemic effects, occurring even after a relatively mild acute illness.
Objective
“To determine the frequency and nature of ongoing symptoms in Upper Egypt at 3 and 6 months post-acute COVID-19, characterize patient groups at risk for PCS, and evaluate changes in clinical parameters.
Patients and methods
This prospective observational descriptive cohort study of 120 patients with COVID-19 infection. Patients were consecutively enrolled based on eligibility criteria, including positive PCR or combined clinical criteria, imaging, including CT chest and chest US, and laboratory investigation, such as CRP for confirmation of COVID-19 diagnosis. Follow-up of patients was done at 3 and 6 months.
Results
The most common symptoms at the acute stage were cough (100%), fever (99.2%), and dyspnea (98.3%). At 3 months, 95.8% reported PCS symptoms; this decreased to 72.6% at 6 months (
P
p
=0.017) and 6 months (
p
=0.043).
Conclusion
Increasing age, non-vaccination, greater COVID-19 severity, diabetes, and hypertension were associated with higher PCS incidence.