Background The sudden transmission of the novel coronavirus along with instant measures taken in response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused many new challenges adversely disturbing quality of life (QoL). The objective of this study is to measure quality of life of the public during the COVID-19 pandemic and factors affecting it among adults. Methods This is a community-based cross-sectional household study with analytic component conducted in an agricultural area in Dakahlia governorate, Egypt and included 500 individuals. Data were collected through a structured interview, and the collected data included socio-demographic characteristics as well as some data related to their habits and comorbidities, their experience with COVID-19 and data about QoL using the COV19-Impact on Quality of Life (COV19-QoL) scale Arabic version, after assessing Content validity and reliability. Results The total QoL score (mean ± standard deviation) is 2.3 ± 0.6 and the score for QoL in general and perception of danger on personal safety show the highest mean with 2.6 ± 0.7. The lowest mean score is related to the perception of mental health deterioration (1.9 ± 0.8). Independent predictors of the total QoL scale are sex (regression coefficient (95% CI) = 0.1 (0.02 to 0.2), p value = 0.02), monthly income (regression coefficient (95% CI) = 0.1 (0.004 to 0.2), p value = 0.04), knowing someone infected with COVID-19 (regression coefficient (95% CI) = 0.15 (0.08 to 0.3), p value = 0.001), and data collection time (regression coefficient (95% CI) = 0.1 (0.006 to 0.2), p value = 0.04). Conclusions COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the public quality of life, particularly in terms of general quality of life and personal safety. People with substantial predictors of lower quality of life should be given more attention.

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Background Previous meta-analyses estimating the prevalence of the post-COVID-19 condition (PCC) were confounded by the lack of negative control groups. This may result in an overestimation of the prevalence of those experiencing PCC, as these symptoms are non-specific and common in the general population. In this study, we aimed to compare the burden of persistent symptoms among COVID-19 survivors relative to COVID-19-negative controls. Methods A systematic literature search was conducted using the following databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus) until July 2023 for comparative studies that examined the prevalence of persistent symptoms in COVID-19 survivors. Given that many of the symptoms among COVID-19 survivors overlap with post-hospitalization syndrome and post-intensive care syndrome, we included studies that compare the prevalence of persistent symptoms in hospitalized COVID-19 patients relative to non-COVID-19 hospitalized patients and in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients relative to healthy controls that reported outcomes after at least three months since infection. The results of the meta-analysis were reported as odds ratios with a 95% confidence interval based on the random effects model. Results Twenty articles were included in this study. Our analysis of symptomatology in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients compared to negative controls revealed that the majority of symptoms examined were not related to COVID-19 infection and appeared equally prevalent in both cohorts. However, non-COVID-19 hospitalized patients had higher odds of occurrence of certain symptoms like anosmia, ageusia, fatigue, dyspnea, and brain fog (P < 0.05). Particularly, anosmia and ageusia showed substantially elevated odds relative to the negative control group at 11.27 and 9.76, respectively, P < 0.05. In contrast, analysis of hospitalized COVID-19 patients compared to those hospitalized for other indications did not demonstrate significantly higher odds for the tested symptoms. Conclusions The persistent symptoms in COVID-19 survivors may result from hospitalization for causes unrelated to COVID-19 and are commonly reported among the general population. Although certain symptoms exhibited higher odds in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients relative to controls, these symptoms are common post-viral illnesses. Therefore, the persistent symptoms after COVID-19 may not be unique to SARS-CoV-2. Future studies including well-matched control groups when investigating persistent symptoms in COVID-19 survivors are warranted to draw a firm conclusion.

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