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Health behaviour

How much does Long COVID after mild illness hurt quality of life?

Malesevic S, Sievi NA, Baumgartner P, et al. · Scientific reports · 2023

Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC

In 112 Long-COVID patients (mostly mild acute COVID), SF-36 physical scores were markedly below Swiss norms; fatigue and concentration problems dominated.

Study at a glance

Design
Cohort — Prospective Long-COVID clinic cohort with HRQoL instruments vs Swiss population norms
N
N=112 · Long-COVID patients after mostly mild acute infection; Feb–Aug 2021
Population
Adults with Long-COVID after mild-to-moderate COVID-19 at University Hospital Zurich
Outcome
Impaired health-related quality of life (SF-36, EQ-5D-5L, SGRQ)

Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.

Key findings

112 patients (76.8% women; median age 43); 90.2% had mild acute infection. Fatigue 81.3%, concentration difficulties and dyspnea each 59.8%. SF-36 physical health scores were remarkably lower than Swiss norms; about one-third reported reduced workload.

Methodology

Enrolled Long-COVID clinic patients (Feb–Aug 2021), measured HRQoL with SGRQ, EQ-5D-5L, and SF-36, and compared physical/mental scores with Swiss general-population references before and during the pandemic.

Limitations

Specialty-clinic sampling over-represents people seeking care; no randomized intervention effect is estimated.

How this study connects

Role on claims

Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.

  • SupportsLong COVID syndromeconcept

    Even after mild/moderate acute COVID, clinic Long-COVID patients show impaired HRQoL.

    In 112 Zurich Post-Covid outpatients, fatigue/concentration/dyspnea were common and SF-36 physical scores were markedly below Swiss norms.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

  • SupportsLong COVID syndromeconcept

    Patient-led surveys, clinic HRQoL cohorts, and Delphi consensus should not be collapsed into one prevalence or one treatment claim.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

Open questions

Tensions this paper is part of

From concept pages' “where studies disagree.” Disagreement means the same question; scope means different assays, populations, or outcomes.

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