Abstract
Background: Dyspnea is the most common symptom associated with the
COVID-19 caused by novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The aim of this study
was to assess the prevalence of dyspnea, observe co-variables, and find
predictors of dyspnea after two months of recovery from COVID-19.
Methods: This study was conducted in 327 patients and they were asked if
they had experienced dyspnea with the COVID-19. Patients’ responses
about dyspnea were categorized as being improved, remained the same, or
(worsened) two months post-COVID-19. Software “R” was used in this
study for statistical computing. The p-value was set <0.05 for
all statistical tests. A repeated k-fold cross-validation was used for
measuring the accuracy of logistic regression. Results: Of the total 327
participants in the study, 34% had stated that they were suffering from
respiratory symptoms even after two months of COVID-19. The study
demonstrated that SpO2 (p value <0.03), D-dimer (p value
<0.001), serum ferritin (p value <0.006) and the
presence of dyspnea are significantly correlated. The repeated k-fold
cross-validation method revealed that the prediction performance was
around 65%. Conclusion: These findings can be useful for the physicians
treating COVID-19 patients after discharge from hospital.