Do the Successive Waves of SARS-CoV-2, Vaccination Status and Place of Infection Influence the Clinical Picture and COVID-19 Severity among Patients with Persistent Clinical Symptoms? The Retrospective Study of Patients from the STOP-COVID Registry of the PoLoCOV-Study

The severity of ailments caused by SARS-CoV-2 varies and the clinical picture has already evolved during the pandemic, complicating diagnostics. In Poland, no study has been performed to assess the clinical picture of patients across the successive pandemic waves. The aim of the study was to present the characteristics of patients who present to medical center because of persistent symptoms after COVID-19, and to study differences between hospitalized/non-hospitalized, vaccinated/non-vaccinated individuals and between different waves in Poland. This is a retrospective study evaluating the clinical presentation of COVID-19 patients from the STOP-COVID registry of the PoLoCOV-Study. This registry includes patients who present to the medical center because of persistent clinical symptoms after the isolation. The patients' data were obtained from individuals who suffered from COVID-19 between September 2020 and December 2021.The patients were divided into groups according to the infection rate increase pattern (II/III/IV pandemic wave), status of vaccination and place of isolation. Regardless of the pandemic wave, the patients' most commonly reported weaknesses were a cough and a headache. The arterial hypertension and hyperlipidemia were the most frequent concomitant chronic conditions. Hospitalized patients more often reported weakness or a cough while home-isolated patients were more likely to have rhinitis or a headache. Patients who completed the vaccination course showed a shorter duration of clinical symptoms and a lower mean number of symptoms. Additionally, vaccinated individuals reported less taste and/or olfactory dysfunction than unvaccinated individuals. To conclude, the persistence of the pandemic has resulted in significant changes observed in the clinical picture. Successive waves caused deterioration in the subjective assessment of the disease severity. A cough seemed to occur more frequently in the later pandemic waves.

Automated summary

This retrospective study evaluated the clinical presentation of COVID-19 patients in Poland and found that the symptoms and severity of the disease varied during the pandemic waves. Cough and headache were the most commonly reported symptoms regardless of the wave, while arterial hypertension and hyperlipidemia were the most frequent chronic conditions. The study also showed that vaccinated individuals had a shorter duration of symptoms and reported less taste and/or olfactory dysfunction.