Impact of COVID-19 on Outpatient Daily Life

COVID-19 is known to present with many different symptoms, and many symptoms present themselves in some populations but not in others. Recent studies have demonstrated that children who are infected with COVID-19 may not present normally associated symptoms that Adults do.

Severe cases of the disease have the potential to lead to hospitalization and intensive care unit admission, and the symptomatic experience of outpatients with COVID-19 and its impact on their daily life is not well known.

Recently, investigators from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, in collaboration with Modus Outcomes and the Weill Cornell Medical College, have conducted research to better understand this experience.

The data was presented at the 23rd Annual Making a Difference in Infectious Disease Meeting 2021 virtual sessions.

For the study, investigators interviewed 31 adult patients from the United States with a confirmed case of COVID-19 21 days after the time of diagnosis. The participants must have self-reported fever, cough, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, change/loss of taste/smell, vomiting/diarrhea, or body/muscle aches.

The participants were asked open ended questions about their symptoms and the impact that they had on their daily life. The interviews were conducted an average of 12 days after diagnosis. The patients ages were between 18 to 76, with 60% being female and 87% being white.

Daily activities included eating/drinking, self-care, housework, exercise, and socializing.

Results from the study showed that 83% of the participants were experiencing at least one symptom at the time of interview. Of those, 68% described their severity as ‘mild’ and 32% described it as ‘moderate’.

“The manifestation of symptoms in outpatient COVID-19 is heterogeneous and affects all aspects of daily life. Our comprehensive model provides an evidence base to inform the content of outcomes measures to evaluate treatment benefit in outpatients,” the authors wrote. “While reported symptoms were in line with expectations, patients offered new detailed insights into their symptomatic experiences and the impacts symptoms had on their daily lives. Future studies should explore the symptoms and impacts of COVID-19 longitudinally, to better understand their early onset, progression/resolution, and the possible long-term implications of COVID-19.”