Return to Former Activities of Daily Living for Cardiovascular Patients in COVID-19

Muharrem Said Cosgun, Cansu Cosgun and Husnu Degirmenci*

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. Despite all the strict precautions, the epidemic probably continues rapidly due to new mutations and negatively affects the whole world. The presence of comorbid diseases has been associated with poor clinical outcomes. We aimed to examine the return of COVID-19 patients with cardiovascular comorbidity to their former Activities of Daily Living (ADL).

Methods: The research population was selected from patients who admitted to the outpatient clinic from November 2020 to January 2021. 80 consecutive patients with cardiovascular comorbidity were included in the Study Group (SG). The Control Group (CG) included 100 patients of similar age range and gender, without cardiovascular comorbidities. Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) test was performed in both groups to evaluate changes in ADL. Outpatients were visited until return to their former ADL with telecommunications at appropriate intervals.

Results: Symptoms limiting ADL, such as fatigue (weakness), shortness of breath, and myalgia, were significantly higher in SG than CG (p < 0.05). In contrast, anosmia and ageusia were significantly higher in CG than SG (p < 0.001). Pre-COVID-19 NHP scores were similar in both groups. However, at admission, SG’s NHP scores were significantly higher than CG’s (p < 0.001). Related to this, limitations in ADL (p < 0.001) and recovery times (p < 0.05) were higher in SG than CG.

Conclusion: In this study, we observed that COVID-19 was more symptomatic in those with cardiovascular comorbidities, such as a higher limitation in ADL and a longer recovery time.

Keywords:

Published on: Feb 20, 2021 Pages: 14-16

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/2455-2976.000162
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