AUTHOR=Adli Nada , Bala Mohamed , Bougmiza Mohamed Iheb , Al-Kuwari Mohamed Ghaith , Al-Khenji Abdul Hameed , Selim Nagah 

TITLE=Post-COVID-19 syndrome, who at risk and why: an insight from Qatar 2022

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1368568

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2024.1368568

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Background</title><p>Despite the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, many people experience post-COVID-19 syndrome, which negatively impacts their health and function. This condition has become a significant public health problem that requires immediate attention.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Objective</title><p>To study the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and predictors of post-COVID-19 Syndrome in Qatar during 2022.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Methods</title><p>An analytic cross-sectional study was conducted among COVID-19 confirmed cases from January 2022 to July 2022 in Qatar. A simple random sample was employed to include (<italic>n</italic> = 588) participants from the list of cases and invited to participate in a telephone survey. The World Health Organization’s standard case definition for PCS was adopted.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Results</title><p>Out of 368, the prevalence of post-COVID-19 syndrome was 43.2% (<italic>n</italic> = 159). Most PCS cases were females (67.9%; <italic>n</italic> = 108), married (73.6%; <italic>n</italic> = 117), and university and higher educational level (83.6%; <italic>n</italic> = 133). However, 78.7% (<italic>n</italic> = 125) reported poor to moderate levels of social support. Only 30.2% (<italic>n</italic> = 48) of PCS patients had a history of chronic diseases, and 5.7% (<italic>n</italic> = 9) required hospital admission during acute illness. Among PCS cases, the most commonly reported symptoms were fatigue (75.5%), followed by anxiety (49.1%), forgetfulness (46.5%), mood alteration (45.3%), and general weakness (39.6%). The logistic regression revealed that female gender (AOR: 2.58 95%CI: 1.58–4.225, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.0001), university and high educational level (AOR: 2.2, 95%CI: 1.256–3.98, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.006), poor level of social support (AOR: 2.45; 95%CI: 1.55–4.13; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.002), were significant predictors for PCS.</p></sec><sec id="sec5"><title>Conclusion</title><p>Post-COVID-19 syndrome may go under-recognized. More efforts are needed to raise awareness and mobilize the resources to respond to this ongoing public health problem.</p></sec>