Longitudinal Multidimensional Symptom Experience Following COVID-19 Hospitalization: Implications from a Holistic Perspective

Abstract

Background:

While COVID-19 has lessened in urgency for the general United States population’s day-to-day functioning, it continues to have significant impact for those who live with a wide range of ongoing sequelae. Wide variation of Long COVID symptoms must be considered as nurses facilitate holistic patient-centered care.

Objectives:

We aimed to describe patients’ symptom experiences from 3 to 12 months following COVID-19 hospitalization.

Methods:

A longitudinal descriptive design was used to explore adults’ symptom experiences of Long COVID at 4 time points up to 12 months following hospital admission for COVID-19 between October 2020 and May 2022.

Results:

Most of the 37 participants (87%) continued to experience at least 1 physical symptom at 12 months, which was not significantly different than at 3 months (90%). Fatigue was the most common symptom reported at all the time points. Group mean scores on all PROMIS measures and the Impact of Events Scale-Revised did not indicate dysfunction; however, 37% reported having somewhat or a lot of symptom impact on their normal routines. In addition, at least 50% reported currently experiencing quality of life worse than prior to COVID at each time point.

Conclusions:

Long COVID symptoms continue to affect significant numbers of people with ongoing impact to daily routines and quality of life. Nurses are in a unique position to generate new evidence on identifying the subset of patients recovering from COVID-19 who are at higher risk for developing Long COVID and provide holistic assessments, monitoring, and interventions to mitigate patients’ physical, emotional, and mental health symptoms.