Perfil respiratório de pacientes acompanhados por teleatendimento após alta hospitalar por COVID-19 no Rio Grande do Norte

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 is an infectious and multisystemic disease caused by the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). The main form of transmission is through respiratory droplets, and most common clinical manifestations are fever, cough, dyspnea, pneumonia and some develop Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), which may require hospitalization in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Hospitalization in a hospital environment promotes reduced physical performance and can lead to generalized muscle weakness. Epidemiological data from patients after hospital discharge are important to provide information about the profile of the disease and the sequelae left by it. Objective: To trace the respiratory profile of patients followed up by telecare after hospital discharge due to COVID-19. Methodology: The study was characterized by being a cross-sectional, analytical descriptive observational type. Individuals aged 18 years and over were evaluated after hospital discharge due to COVID-19. The evaluations were carried out in a virtual platform and identification data, previous and post discharge health of the subjects were collected through a structured evaluation form for the research between September 2020 and September 2021. Data analysis was performed using the statistical program Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 17.0 for Windows. Quantitative data were presented as mean and standard deviation and categorical data were presented as absolute and relative frequencies. Results: We evaluated 73 individuals with a mean age of 52.59 (±13.08) years, of which 50.7% were female. The evaluation took place, on average, 1.9 (±3.11) months after hospital discharge, with 54.8% being evaluated before 1 month of discharge. Systemic Arterial Hypertension (SAH) was the most prevalent comorbidity, being observed in 45.2% of patients, followed by obesity (28.8%) and diabetes (27.4%). 43,8% of those evaluated were hospitalized in the ICU (mean time of 11.75 ± 9.74 days) and 32.2% needed to be intubated (mean time of 13.40 ± 5.29 days). 47.95% reported having a dry/irritating and/or productive cough after discharge and 49,3% reported not being able or having difficulty expanding the chest. Conclusions: According to the findings, almost half of those evaluated required hospitalization in the ICU and after discharge remained with a dry/irritative and/or productive cough and were unable or had difficulty expanding the chest.