Symptom intensity of post-COVID and long COVID syndromes in patients entering rehabilitation treatment.

INTRODUCTION: The problem of post-COVID symptoms is still being analysed. Many of them may be related to other conditions, but the new appearance and greater intensity of some of them, e.g. fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, and neuropathic pain, seem to be related to a previous viral infection. Efforts are being made to determine in more detail the most characteristic symptoms of post-COVID syndrome. The conditions of rehabilitation after COVID-19 provide an opportunity for such observations. In rehabilitation centres and sanatoriums, it is possible to compare patients with post-COVID syndrome and other patients referred for rehabilitation, who constitute a natural control group. Such a comparison is the aim of the present work.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 59 post-COVID-19 patients and 57 sanatorium patients without COVID (non-COVID group) as a control group. The 31-element questionnaire ("Post-COVID syndrome symptoms assessment card") was part of the routine management of post-COVID patients referred for rehabilitation after symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in Polish conditions. In the control group, the questionnaire was introduced as a part of a physical examination and an interview regarding the symptoms reported by the patient before standard rehabilitation. The questions were scored in the scale from 0 to a maximum of 10 points. Each patient gave informed consent to the use of the questionnaire for research purposes.

RESULTS: Symptoms of the highest intensity in the COVID-19 group were: feeling unwell after physical effort (avg. 6.25 points), chronic fatigue (avg. 5.97 points), dyspnoea on exertion (avg. 5.83 points), concentration disturbances (avg. 4.93), muscle pain (avg. 4.92), joint pain (avg. 4.86), memory disorders (avg. 4.81 points), sleep disorders (avg. 4.05 points), numbness of the limbs (avg. 3.73 points), tingling in the limbs (avg. 3.68 points).Symptoms of highest intensity in patients in the non-COVID-19 group: joint pain (avg. 4.61 points), tingling in the limbs (avg. 2.84 points), numbness of the limbs (avg. 2.79 points), muscle pain (avg. 2.11 points).There was no statistically significant difference between the group under examination and the control group in the following symptoms: fever, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, resting dyspnoea, olfactory disorders, joint pain, tingling in the limbs and numbness of the limbs.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show symptoms of the highest intensity with post-COVID syndromes. However, also symptoms that are a problem both in post-COVID and non-COVID patients, i.e. joint pain, tingling in and numbness of the limbs were identified. This confirms that the control non-COVID group consisted of patients referred for rehabilitation treatment mainly due to musculoskeletal problems and chronic pain.