P168 Patient symptoms following discharge from hospital after COVID-19 Pneumonia

P168 Figure 1Resolution of symptoms post COVID-19: Patients were called at one time point during their follow up and then divided into groups based on that time Percentage of patients who had persistent cough, dyspnoea, fever, myalgia, lethargy and anosmia in each group[Figure omitted See PDF]ResultsA total of 102 patients were screened, 70 were included in the study, with the rest being unreachable (n=32)Cough, dyspnoea, fever and lethargy were the most common symptoms at time of admission All these symptoms, except lethargy, improved following discharge (figure 1) Prevalence in the 5+ week cohort of other symptoms is as follows: dyspnoea 35 7%, cough 11 5%, fever 0%;however, 70% of patients had at least 1 symptom 5 weeks after discharge Self-reported exercise capacity and MRC dyspnoea score also improved after discharge Despite this 21 4% of patients had a persistent impairment in walking ability on the flat, 17 8% in stair-climbing with 28 5% persistent deficit in MRC dyspnoea score after 5 weeks In contrast 40% of patients had a deficit in WHO performance status and this was not affected by time after discharge In conclusion patients did improve following discharge from hospital for COVID-19 pneumonia, however many were left with residual symptoms and a functional deficit in short term (5 weeks) It remains to be seen whether this results in long term health problems *highlights joint authorshipReferenceHui DS, Wong KT, Ko FW, et al The 1-year impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome on pulmonary function, exercise capacity, and quality of life in a cohort of survivors Chest 2005;128(4):2247–2261