Long COVID: Evaluation of Physical and Functional Status
With more than 246 million people diagnosed with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) around the world, many of whom have required medical attention for past 23 months, greater emphasis is being placed on post-acute care of COVID-19 survivors. According to recent data, millions of patients who have recovered from acute COVID-19 are experiencing persistent symptoms, which lead to disability and impaired activities of daily living. Various terms have been used to describe the condition of patients who do not return to their initial health status to include post-acute sequelae of COVID-19, such as post-acute COVID syndrome (PACS) and Long COVID. The growing global burden of COVID-19 suggests that the potential effects of Long COVID in public health are vast even if Long COVID is experienced by a small proportion of patients recovering from acute infection. The ability to identify patients at high risk for Long COVID and forecasting medical resource requirements is of important clinical utility in the present. In view of the large number of people surviving after infection with COVID-19 and that should require follow-up, determine which patients are at risk of have Long COVID and who require close monitoring is crucial. In this study, therefore, we set out to analyze what type of patient profile with COVID-19 who, after 12 weeks of having suffered the infection, experiences the signs and symptoms described by current literature.
• Have been positive for COVID-19 since the declaration of the state of alarm throughout the Spanish territory to deal with the health emergency situation caused by COVID-19 (March 14, 2020).
• Symptoms associated with COVID-19 at least after 12 weeks of its detection.
• Adequate cognitive and physical level to understand and perform the tests evaluation.