Impact of long-COVID on health-related quality of life in Japanese
COVID-19 patients
Abstract
Background: The empirical basis for a quantitative assessment of the
disease burden imposed by long-COVID is currently scant. We aimed to
assess the disease burden caused by long-COVID in Japan. Methods: We
conducted a cross sectional self-report questionnaire survey. The
questionnaire was mailed to 530 eligible patients, who were recovered
from acute COVID-19 in April 2021. Answers were classified into two
groups; participants who have no symptom and those who have any ongoing
symptoms that lasted longer than four weeks at the time of the survey.
We compared health-related quality of life scores estimated by the
EQ-5D-3L questionnaire between these two groups after adjusting basic
characteristics of the participants by propensity score matching.
Results: 349 participants reported no symptoms and 108 reported any
symptoms at the time of the survey. The participants who reported any
symptoms showed a lower value on a Visual Analogue Scale (median 70
[IQR 60-80]) and on the EQ-5D-3L (median 0.81 [IQR 0.77-1.0])
than those reporting no symptoms (median 85 [IQR 75-90] and 1.0
[IQR 1.0-1.0], respectively). After adjusting for background
characteristics, these trends did not change substantially (Visual
Analog Scale: median 70 [IQR 60-80] vs 80 [IQR 77-90], EQ-5D-3L:
median 0.81 [IQR 0.76-1.0] vs 1.0 [IQR 1.0-1.0]). Conclusions:
Due to their long duration, long-COVID symptoms represent a substantial
disease burden expressed in impact on health-related quality of life.