A PROSPECTIVE STUDY ON HEALTH RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN COVID-19 RECOVERED PATIENTS

*M.K. Nirosha, Navya L., Keerthana Kumari C.N., Dr. Sushma Nayak, *Dr. Basavanna P.L. and Dr. Prashanth

ABSTRACT

Health related quality of life (HRQOL) is an important component in assessing people’s health. Environmental quality can influence people’s quality of life in the physical health, psychological, social relationships and environment domains. Covid-19 has caused a worldwide pandemic and led a huge impact on the health of human and daily life. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate health related quality of life (HRQOL) and persistent symptoms in post COVID-19 patients. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out at K R Hospital Mysuru, Karnataka, from November 2020 to April 2021. A total 250 patients were enrolled in the study as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Patient demographics and persistent symptoms data were collected using data collection forms. Quality of life was analyzed by WHOQOL-BREF Questionnaire. ANOVA and two-tailed t test of statistical analysis was carried out and P-value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Out of 250 participants, males show dominance over females. The WHOQOL was low, psychological (11.02) and social relationship (4.32) had severely decreased mean scores whereas, physical (12.71) and environmental relationship (14.58) had moderately low scores. The most frequently reported persistent symptoms were fatigue (62.4%), dyspnea (36.8%), cough (36.8%) and sleep disturbances (35.2%). Conclusion: The mean score for WHOQOL-BREF in post-COVID19 patients was low. The HRQOL of discharged COVID-19 patients did not come back to normal even at second month after discharge and affected by aging, smoking and persistent symptoms after discharge.

Keywords: Health related quality of life (HRQOL), COVID-19, Persistent symptoms, World Health Organization quality of life- Brief (WHOQOL-BREF).