• Leora I Horwitz, Kira Garry, Alexander M Prete, Sneha Sharma, Felicia Mendoza, Tamara Kahan, Hannah Karpel, Emily Duan, Katherine A Hochman, and Himali Weerahandi.
• Division of Healthcare Delivery Science, Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
• J Gen Intern Med. 2021 Dec 1; 36 (12): 3772-3777.

BackgroundPrevious work has demonstrated that patients experience functional decline at 1-3 months post-discharge after COVID-19 hospitalization.ObjectiveTo determine whether symptoms persist further or improve over time, we followed patients discharged after hospitalization for severe COVID-19 to characterize their overall health status and their physical and mental health at 6 months post-hospital discharge.DesignProspective observational cohort study.ParticipantsPatients ≥ 18 years hospitalized for COVID-19 at a single health system, who required at minimum 6 l of supplemental oxygen during admission, had intact baseline functional status, and were discharged alive.Main MeasuresOverall health status, physical health, mental health, and dyspnea were assessed with validated surveys: the PROMIS® Global Health-10 and PROMIS® Dyspnea Characteristics instruments.Key ResultsOf 152 patients who completed the 1 month post-discharge survey, 126 (83%) completed the 6-month survey. Median age of 6-month respondents was 62; 40% were female. Ninety-three (74%) patients reported that their health had not returned to baseline at 6 months, and endorsed a mean of 7.1 symptoms. Participants' summary t-scores in both the physical health and mental health domains at 6 months (45.2, standard deviation [SD] 9.8; 47.4, SD 9.8, respectively) remained lower than their baseline (physical health 53.7, SD 9.4; mental health 54.2, SD 8.0; p<0.001). Overall, 79 (63%) patients reported shortness of breath within the prior week (median score 2 out of 10 (interquartile range [IQR] 0-5), vs 42 (33%) pre-COVID-19 infection (0, IQR 0-1)). A total of 11/124 (9%) patients without pre-COVID oxygen requirements still needed oxygen 6 months post-hospital discharge. One hundred and seven (85%) were still experiencing fatigue at 6 months post-discharge.ConclusionsEven 6 months after hospital discharge, the majority of patients report that their health has not returned to normal. Support and treatments to return these patients back to their pre-COVID baseline are urgently needed.© 2021. Society of General Internal Medicine.

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