The long-term adverse events and persisting clinical symptomatology post COVID-19 infection among the healthcare workers of a tertiary care hospital in West Bengal

Authors

  • Poonam Joshi College of Nursing, AIIMS Kalyani, West Bengal, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7016-8437
  • Zichen Sherpa Department of Nursing Services, AIIMS Kalyani, West Bengal, India
  • Farhad Ahamed Department of Community Medicine and Family Medicine (CMFM), AIIMS Kalyani, West Bengal, India
  • Smita Das College of Nursing AIIMS New Delhi, India
  • Mugunthan M. Department of Microbiology, AIIMS Kalyani, West Bengal, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20230650

Keywords:

Post-COVID-19 infection, Long-term adverse events, Persisting clinical symptomatology, Healthcare workers

Abstract

COVID -19, a global pandemic, has dominated every person’s life worldwide. The clinical presentation of COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic, mild symptomatic to fulminant and fatal cases, having consequences for many organ systems. In a cross-sectional study, 128 healthcare workers of a tertiary care medical college hospital, 4 weeks following the COVID infection agreed to participate in the study. Self-developed subject data sheet and the self-reporting symptoms tool based on the WHO case report form were used for data collection. A significant number of health care workers (HCWs) had long COVID symptomatology in terms of constitutional, muscular-skeletal, respiratory, otolaryngology, and CNS symptoms. The commonly experienced symptoms were myalgia (45.3%), malaise (39%), fatigue and tiredness (69.5%), loss of taste (21.1%), loss of smell (20.3%) and night sweats (11.7%), lack of sleep (20.3%), and anxiety (12.5%). The cardiovascular and integumentary were the less affected organ systems. About one-third of the HCWs reported that symptoms like myalgia, malaise and tiredness got worse after physical activity (29.7%). Aggravation of symptoms with any form of mental activity was reported in 11.7% of the study participants. One in every ten HCWs (12.5%) had reported not being able to perform daily activities that they were doing before getting COVID-19 infection. However, all resumed their job after the recovery. Long COVID symptoms were reported by a significant number of HCWs, necessitating the need for the establishment of follow-up clinics for the care of healthcare workers.

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Published

2023-02-28

How to Cite

Joshi, P., Sherpa, Z., Ahamed, F., Das, S., & M., M. (2023). The long-term adverse events and persisting clinical symptomatology post COVID-19 infection among the healthcare workers of a tertiary care hospital in West Bengal. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 10(3), 1261–1265. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20230650

Issue

Section

Short Communication