Post-COVID-19 condition 3 months after hospitalisation with SARS-CoV-2 in South Africa: a prospective cohort study

Recommendations from The Medical Education Editor

“…Clinicians and researchers worldwide have been flooded with information about COVID‐19 in the few years since its emergence: a PubMed search for Respirology articles revealed 130 results at the time of writing 1 . Initially, much of our attention was focused on managing patients with acute, severe disease in the hospital; however, research describing the longer‐term follow‐up of patients after COVID‐19 infection is becoming available 2,3 …”

“…1 Initially, much of our attention was focused on managing patients with acute, severe disease in the hospital; however, research describing the longer-term follow-up of patients after COVID-19 infection is becoming available. 2,3 In the July 2022 issue, Nakshbandi and colleagues reported their study of an online home monitoring programme for patients recovering after admission with COVID-19. 4 Adult patients from three Dutch hospitals were eligible if they required hospital admission and had parenchymal abnormalities on imaging.…”

Post-COVID-19 condition: current evidence and unanswered questions

“…Other findings in Dryden and colleagues' study 5 that provide important considerations for health systems include the relatively high proportion (44•7%) of individuals with PCC who consulted with a general practitioner or primary health-care clinic. This finding suggests the need for the inclusion of primary healthcare clinics in implementing PCC interventions.…”

“…In The Lancet Global Health , Murray Dryden and colleagues prospectively investigate the prevalence and risk factors associated with PCC among individuals admitted to hospital with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in South Africa. 5 Participants aged 18 years or older were followed up by telephone at 1 month and 3 months after hospital discharge and assessed with use of a standardised questionnaire for the evaluation of symptoms, functional status, health-related quality of life, and occupational status. Of the 3094 participants who were selected and contacted for enrolment, 2410 (77·9%) consented to participate in the study at 1 month after discharge and of these, 1873 (77·7%) completed the 3-month follow-up.…”

A cohort study of Post COVID-19 Condition across the Beta, Delta and Omicron waves in South Africa: 6-month follow up of hospitalised and non-hospitalised participants

“…Several studies identified higher rates of symptoms (4,12) and higher rates of diabetes, respiratory and cardiovascular disease (12,14) in individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to general population and influenza controls. Risk factors identified for PCC include female sex, ethnicity/race, specific comorbidities, greater number of acute COVID-19 symptoms, and severe COVID-19 disease requiring hospitalisation, ICU or invasive mechanical ventilation (5,10,(15)(16)(17)(18). Recent studies have suggested that the prevalence of PCC among people infected during the Omicron-dominant wave was lower than those infected in previous waves dominated by Delta and Alpha (10,(19)(20)(21).…”