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Impact of long-COVID on health-related quality of life in Japanese COVID-19 patients
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  • Shinya Tsuzuki,
  • Yusuke Miyazato,
  • Mari Terada,
  • Shinichiro Morioka,
  • Norio Ohmagari,
  • Philippe Beutels
Shinya Tsuzuki
National Center for Global Health and Medicine

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Yusuke Miyazato
National Center for Global Health and Medicine
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Mari Terada
National Center for Global Health and Medicine
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Shinichiro Morioka
National Center for Global Health and Medicine
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Norio Ohmagari
National Center for Global Health and Medicine
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Philippe Beutels
University of Antwerp Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
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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.