In this cohort of individuals with COVID-19 who were followed up for as long as 9 months after illness, approximately 30% reported persistent symptoms. A unique aspect of our cohort is the high proportion of outpatients with mild disease. Persistent symptoms were reported by one-third of outpatients in our study, consistent with a previously reported study,
4 in which 36% of outpatients had not returned to baseline health by 14 to 21 days following infection. However, this has not been previously described 9 months after infection.
Consistent with existing literature, fatigue was the most commonly reported symptom.
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4 This occurred in 14% of individuals in this study, lower than the 53% to 71%
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4 reported in cohorts of hospitalized patients, likely reflecting the lower acuity of illness in our cohort. Furthermore, impairment in HRQoL has previously been reported among hospitalized patients who have recovered from COVID-19; we found 29% of outpatients reported worsened HRQoL.
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