Authors (including presenting author) :
Siu DCH (1), Poon DWF (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Occupational Therapy Department, Prince of Wales Hospital, NTEC
Introduction :
The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has led to 2.74 millions of people being infected and more than 12,000 deaths (The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2022). People with COPD have reduced lung function with limited energy expenditure and functional capacity for meeting exertional demands (Vogelmeier et al., 2017). Patients with co-morbidity with long COVID may develop poor health and functional outcomes. COPD was associated with increased odds of hospitalization, ICU admission, and mortality. A recent systematic review on the impact of COVID-19 among patients with COPD (Gerayeli et al., 2021) was published, but no local study has examined long COVID and its functional implications.
Objectives :
1. To explore the prevalence of long COVID among patients with COPD
2. To explore the health and functional impact of COVID-19 among patients with COPD
Methodology :
This is a retrospective multi-center case-control study. Patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and COPD attending occupational therapy outpatient service at Prince of Wales Hospital and NTEC GOPCs were included in the retrospective review. Information on the presence of signs and symptoms after the COVID will be retrieved from case notes.
Patients with COPD reported any signs and symptoms during the medical consultation would be collected and matched with the CDC checklist (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). Functional performance and exertional breathlessness in daily activities, and quality of life were also included in the analysis.
Result & Outcome :
386 patients with COPD were included in the analysis and attended outpatient services under the catchment of NTEC GOPCs. 225 patients (58.3%) got at least one episode of COVID-19 since the pandemic. Lower COVID prevalence was observed for patients with severe COPD. 122 patients (54.2%) reported COVID-19 within 12 months of attending the consultation. Subgroup descriptive analysis indicated patients have reported increased functional impairment, exertional dyspnea, fatigue and emotional impact in daily activities by comparing patients with or without a history of COVID-19.
43 patients (35.2%) reported and matched with long COVID according to the CDC checklist. They reported an increased risk of ad-hoc medical consultation to GOPC, A&E and hospital admission, accounting for 54 episodes of clinical consultations and 15 hospital admissions. Most of the long COVID are related to general, respiratory and heart symptoms. Multinominal logistic regression suggested that the presence of co-existing conditions (sputum, cough, dyspnea), number of ad hoc medical consultations after COVID-19, self-perceived health status, fatigue and emotion score in baseline Chinese CRQ score were significant predictors of severe long COVID. The findings highlighted the needs of clinical management and rehabilitation for patients with the co-existence of long COVID and COPD.
