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Post-COVID Syndrome and health-related quality of life (HrQoL): A prospective, population-based study
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  • Christian Neumann,
  • Tim J. Hartung,
  • Klara Boje,
  • Thomas Bahmer,
  • Julian Keil,
  • Wolfgang Lieb,
  • Katrin Franzpoetter,
  • Julius Welzel,
  • Irina Chaplinskaya-Sobol,
  • Matthias Endres,
  • Johanna Geritz,
  • Karl Georg Haeusler,
  • Peter Heuschmann,
  • Andreas Hinz,
  • Sina Hopff,
  • Anna Horn,
  • Carolin Nuernberger,
  • Lena Schmidbauer,
  • Michael Krawczak,
  • Anne-Kathrin Ruß,
  • Lilian Krist,
  • Thomas Keil,
  • Jennifer Kudelka,
  • Anja Mehnert-Theuerkauf,
  • Felipe A. Montellano,
  • Caroline Morbach,
  • Sein Schmidt,
  • Jan Heyckendorf,
  • Flo Steigerwald,
  • Stefan Stoerk,
  • Christina Lemhoefer,
  • Stefan Schreiber,
  • Carsten Finke,
  • Walter Maetzler
Christian Neumann
Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel

Corresponding Author:christian.neumann@uksh.de

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Tim J. Hartung
Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin
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Klara Boje
Christian Albrechts Universitat zu Kiel Institut fur Psychologie
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Thomas Bahmer
Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
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Julian Keil
Christian Albrechts Universitat zu Kiel Institut fur Psychologie
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Wolfgang Lieb
Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel
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Katrin Franzpoetter
Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel
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Julius Welzel
Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
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Irina Chaplinskaya-Sobol
Universitatsmedizin Gottingen
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Matthias Endres
Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin
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Johanna Geritz
Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
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Karl Georg Haeusler
Universitatsklinikum Wurzburg
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Peter Heuschmann
Universitatsklinikum Wurzburg
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Andreas Hinz
Universitatsklinikum Leipzig
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Sina Hopff
Universitat zu Koln
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Anna Horn
Universitatsklinikum Wurzburg
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Carolin Nuernberger
Universitatsklinikum Wurzburg
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Lena Schmidbauer
Universitatsklinikum Wurzburg
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Michael Krawczak
Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
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Anne-Kathrin Ruß
Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
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Lilian Krist
Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
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Thomas Keil
Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin Institut fur Sozialmedizin Epidemiologie und Gesundheitsokonomie
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Jennifer Kudelka
Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
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Anja Mehnert-Theuerkauf
Universitatsklinikum Leipzig
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Felipe A. Montellano
Universitatsklinikum Wurzburg
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Caroline Morbach
Universitatsklinikum Wurzburg
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Sein Schmidt
Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin
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Jan Heyckendorf
Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
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Flo Steigerwald
Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin
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Stefan Stoerk
Universitatsklinikum Wurzburg
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Christina Lemhoefer
Universitatsklinikum Jena
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Stefan Schreiber
Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
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Carsten Finke
Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin
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Walter Maetzler
Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
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Abstract

Long-term changes in health-related quality of life (HrQoL) after SARS-CoV-2 infection are common, but the causes and consequences of these changes are not well understood. HrQoL was assessed using the European Quality-of-Life-5-Dimensions-5-Level-Version (EQ-5D-5L) in 2,618 participants (56% female; aged 18–88 years) approximately 9 months (baseline) and 26 months (follow-up) after their first infection. The results were compared to 40 different demographic and clinical variables. A clinically important improvement in HrQoL was noted during the observation period. At baseline, the number of remaining symptoms from the infection (RS), fatigue (FACIT-Fatigue Scale), depressive symptoms (PHQ-8), muscle pain, age, and anxiety (GAD-7) explained 43% of the variance in HrQoL. At follow-up, fatigue, RS, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and muscle pain explained 50% of the variance. Although changes in fatigue, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and RS were associated with a change in HrQoL, the predictive value of the variables was virtually zero. The study suggests that HrQoL improves statistically significantly during the observation period. However, the extent of recovery is difficult to predict from concurrent changes in demographic and clinical variables. Besides a high RS number, fatigue is the main predictor of poor HrQoL after infection, followed by the presence of depressive and anxiety symptoms.