Introduction Increased mortality has been demonstrated in older adults with COVID-19, but the effect of frailty has been unclear. Methods This multi-centre cohort study involved patients aged 18 years and older hospitalised with COVID-19, using routinely collected data. We used Cox regression analysis to assess the impact of age, frailty, and delirium on the risk of inpatient mortality, adjusting for sex, illness severity, inflammation, and co-morbidities. We used ordinal logistic regression analysis to assess the impact of age, Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), and delirium on risk of increased care requirements on discharge, adjusting for the same variables. Results Data from 5,711 patients from 55 hospitals in 12 countries were included (median age 74, IQR 54–83; 55.2% male). The risk of death increased independently with increasing age (>80 vs 18–49: HR 3.57, CI 2.54–5.02), frailty (CFS 8 vs 1–3: HR 3.03, CI 2.29–4.00) inflammation, renal disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, but not delirium. Age, frailty (CFS 7 vs 1–3: OR 7.00, CI 5.27–9.32), delirium, dementia, and mental health diagnoses were all associated with increased risk of higher care needs on discharge. The likelihood of adverse outcomes increased across all grades of CFS from 4 to 9. Conclusions Age and frailty are independently associated with adverse outcomes in COVID-19. Risk of increased care needs was also increased in survivors of COVID-19 with frailty or older age.

Background Being a newly emerging disease, little is known about its long-lasting post-COVID-19 consequences. The aim of this work is to assess the frequency, patterns, and determinants of persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms and to evaluate the value of a proposed novel COVID-19 symptom score. Patients with confirmed COVID-19 in a hospital-based registry were included in a cross-sectional study (the hospitals including Assiut University Hospital, Assiut Chest Hospital, Aswan University Hospital, and Aswan Specialized Hospital). The patient demographics, comorbid disorders, the mean duration since the onset of the symptoms, history of hospital or ICU admittance, and the treatment taken during the acute state, as well as symptom score before and after convalescence, were recorded. Results The most frequent constitutional and neurological symptoms were myalgia (60.0%), arthralgia (57.2%), restriction of daily activities (57.0%), and sleeping troubles (50.9%), followed by anorexia (42.6%), chest pain (32.6%), gastritis (32.3%), cough (29.3%), and dyspnea (29.1%). The mean total score of acute stage symptoms was 31.0 ± 16.3 while post-COVID 19 symptom score was 13.1 ± 12.6 (P < 0.001). The main determinants of the persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms were the need for oxygen therapy (P < 0.001), pre-existing hypertension (P = 0.039), chronic pulmonary disorders (P = 0.012), and any chronic comorbidity (P = 0.004). There was a correlation between the symptom score during the acute attack and post-COVID-19 stage (P < 0.001, r = 0.67). The acute phase score had 83.5% sensitivity and 73.3% specificity for the cutoff point > 18 to predict occurrence of post-COVID-19 symptoms. Conclusions COVID-19 can present with a diverse spectrum of long-term post-COVID-19 symptoms. Increased acute phase symptom severity and COVID-19 symptom score > 18 together with the presence of any comorbid diseases increase the risk for persistent post-COVID-19 manifestations and severity.

Introduction: Despite global efforts to contain the illness, COVID-19 continues to have severe health, life, and economic repercussions; thus, maintaining vaccine development is mandatory. Different directions concerning COVID-19 vaccines have emerged as a result of the vaccine’s unpredictability. Aims: To study the determinants of the attitudes of healthcare workers (HCWs) to receiving or refusing to receive the vaccine. Methods: The current study adopted an interviewed questionnaire between June and August 2021. A total of 341 HCWs currently working at Assiut University hospitals offered to receive the vaccine were included. Results: Only half of the HCWs (42%) accepted the COVID-19 vaccine. The most common reason that motivated the HCWs was being more susceptible than others to infection (71.8%). On other hand, the common reasons for refusing included: previously contracted the virus (64.8%); did not have time (58.8%); warned by a doctor not to take it (53.8%). Nearly one-third of nonaccepting HCWs depended on television, the Internet, and friends who refused the vaccine for information (p < 0.05). In the final multivariate regression model, there were six significant predictors: sex, job category, chronic disease, being vaccinated for influenza, and using Assiut University hospital staff and the Ministry of Health as sources of information (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Misinformation and negative conceptions are still barriers against achieving the desired rate of vaccination, especially for vulnerable groups such as HCWs.

RATIONAL: Recently, a new “Post-COVID-19 Functional Status (PCFS) scale” is recommended in the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is proposed that it could be used to display direct retrieval and the functional sequelae of COVID-19. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of the study was to assess the PCFS and to evaluate if age, gender, smoking, hospitalization, and comorbidities have any effect on functional limitations in recovered COVID-19 patients. METHODS: A total of 444 registered confirmed COVID-19 patients were included. They were interviewed in our follow-up clinics and filled an Arabic translated PCFS scale as well as their demographic and clinical data. RESULTS: Eighty percent of COVID-19 recovered cases have diverse degrees of functional restrictions ranging from negligible (63.1%), slight (14.4%), moderate (2%), to severe (0.5%) based on PCFS. Furthermore, there was a substantial variance between the score of PCFS with age (P = 0.003), gender (P = 0.014), the duration since the onset of the symptoms of COVID-19 (P < 0.001), need for oxygen supplementation (P < 0.001), need for intensive care unit (ICU) admittance (P = 0.003), previous periodic influenza vaccination (P < 0.001), smoking status (P < 0.001), and finally, the presence of any comorbid disorder (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Most of the COVID-19 recovered cases have diverse degrees of functional restrictions ranging from negligible to severe based on PCFS. These restrictions were affected by age, gender, periodic influenza vaccination, smoking, duration since symptoms onset, need for oxygen or ICU admittance, and finally the presence of coexisting comorbidity.

BackgroundBeing a newly emerging disease little is known about its long-lasting post COVID-19 consequences. Aim of this work is to assess the frequency, patterns and determinants of persistent post COVID-19 symptoms and to evaluate the value of a proposed Novel COVID-19 symptoms score. Patients with confirmed COVID-19 in the registry were included in a cross sectional study. The patient demographics, comorbid disorders, the mean duration since the onset of the symptoms, history of hospital or ICU admittance, and treatment taken during acute state, as well as symptoms score before and after convalescence were recorded.ResultsThe most frequent constitutional and neurological symptoms were myalgia (60.0%), arthralgia (57.2%), restriction of daily activities (57.0%), sleeping troubles (50.9%), followed by anorexia (42.6%), chest pain (32.6%), gastritis (32.3%), cough (29.3%) and dyspnea (29.1%). The mean total score of acute stage symptoms was 31.0 ± 16.3 while post COVID 19 symptoms score was 13.1±12.6 (P<0.001). The main determinants of the persistent post COVID-19 symptoms were the need for oxygen therapy (P<0.001), pre-existing hypertension (P=0.039), chronic pulmonary disorders (P=0.012), and any chronic comorbidity (P=0.004). There was a correlation between the symptom score during the acute attack and post COVID-19 stage (P<0.001, r=0.67). The acute phase score had 83.5% sensitivity and 73.3% specificity for the cutoff point > 18 to predict occurrence of Post-COVID-19 symptoms.ConclusionsCOVID-19 can present with a diverse spectrum of long-term post COVID-19 symptoms. Increased acute phase symptom severity and COVID-19 symptom score > 18 together with the presence of any comorbid diseases increase the risk for persistent post COVID-19 manifestations and severity.