da Silva MRT, Costa AP, da Luz AA, Pelaio CH, Cruz FB, Steil GF, Giamberardino HIG, Prando C. From Acute Phase to Long COVID: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Epidemiological Profile and Clinical Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Employees at a Pediatric Hospital.
J Clin Med 2023;
12:4325. [PMID:
37445359 DOI:
10.3390/jcm12134325]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2023] [Revised: 06/11/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic began in Brazil on 26 February 2020. By 6 May 2023, 37.4 million cases had been confirmed, causing 701 thousand deaths in the country. We aimed to describe the epidemiological profile and clinical development of COVID-19 cases among the employees of a health institution, from acute infection to long COVID.
METHODS
This was a longitudinal study using a retrospective and prospective approach via questionnaires referring to epidemiological investigation, which was the inclusion criteria, and about long-term symptoms.
RESULTS
A total of 809 employees were detected with SARS-CoV-2 infection via RT-PCR, 466 of them answered the epidemiological investigation, and 101 completed the Long COVID Symptom Questionnaire. The most commonly affected employees were women (88.6%) working in patient care (68.6%). Headache, myalgia, cough, odynophagia, and runny nose were the most frequent symptoms. Only three employees (0.6%) required hospitalization, while the other employees required outpatient management due to mild symptoms. We identified 19 (4.1%) cases of reinfection, and 42 (41.6%) employees reported long-term symptoms, such as myalgia, dyspnea, and headache.
CONCLUSIONS
Although most cases were mild with good outcomes, long COVID cases identified are noteworthy, as these symptoms may impact quality of life even months after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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