• Ahmet Naci Emecen, Salih Keskin, Oyku Turunc, Ahmet Furkan Suner, Neslisah Siyve, Ecem Basoglu Sensoy, Fatih Dinc, Oguz Kilinc, Vildan Avkan Oguz, Serdar Bayrak, and Belgin Unal.
• Department of Public Health, Epidemiology Subsection, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, 35340, Balçova, Izmir, Turkey. ahmetemecen@gmail.com.
• Ir J Med Sci. 2023 Apr 1; 192 (2): 741750741-750.

BackgroundCharacterizing the post-COVID health conditions is helpful to direct patients to appropriate healthcare.AimsTo describe the presence of symptoms in COVID-19 patients within 6 months after diagnosis and to investigate the associated factors in terms of reporting symptoms.MethodsData of DEU-COVIMER (a telephone interview-based COVID-19 follow-up center established in a tertiary care hospital) was analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 RNA positive participants aged ≥ 18 years from November 1st, 2020, to May 31st, 2021. Symptom frequencies were stratified by demographic and clinical characteristics at one, three, and 6 months after diagnosis. With the patients who had symptoms at baseline, generalized estimating equations were applied to identify the factors associated with reporting of symptoms.ResultsA total of 5610 patients agreed to participate in the study. Symptom frequency was 37.2%, 21.8%, and 18.2% for the first, third, and sixth months. Tiredness/fatigue, muscle or body aches, and dyspnea/difficulty breathing were the most common symptoms in all time frames. In multivariate analysis, older age, female gender (odds ratio OR 1.74, 95% confidence interval 1.57-1.93), bad economic status (OR 1.37, 1.14-1.65), current smoking (OR 1.15, 1.02-1.29), being fully vaccinated before COVID-19 (OR 0.53, 0.40-0.72), having more health conditions (≥ 3 conditions, OR 1.78, 1.33-2.37), having more symptoms (> 5 symptoms, OR 2.47, 2.19-2.78), and hospitalization (intensive care unit, OR 2.18, 1.51-3.14) were associated with reporting of symptoms.ConclusionsThis study identifies risk factors for patients who experience post-COVID-19 symptoms. Healthcare providers should appropriately allocate resources prioritizing the patients who would benefit from post-COVID rehabilitation.© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.

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