Experiencia del paciente afectado por COVID-19 persistente acerca de la utilidad y características de las escalas de valoración clínica de los síntomas derivados de su enfermedad

Abstract

Objective. To collect patient experience in order to explore the opinion of those affected by persistent COVID on the usefulness of different measurement scales in the support for the comprehensive care of their pathology. Material and methods. An online, anonymised and voluntary survey, was developed, evaluating different scales grouped into 8 thematic blocks: quality of life, pain, dyspnoea, fatigue, physical exercise, sleep disorders, emotional disorders and cognitive alterations. The scales most commonly used clinically in the management of this pathology were selected, and 5 aspects were evaluated for each of them: usefulness (analogue scale 1 to 10), favourable points, what is missing/missing, favourite scale in each block, and knowledge of other alternative scales that they found useful was collected. Age, sex and whether they were health professionals were also collected. Results. The survey was completed by 36 patients with persistent COVID: 86.1% women, mean age 43.25 years (SD 6.90) and 44.4% health professionals. The favourite scales in each of the blocks were: 59% SF-36 on quality of life; 47% Spanish Chronic Pain Grading Scale; 92% mMRC for dyspnoea; 83% MFIS to measure fatigue; 47% global physical activity scale; 58% PSQI for sleep disorders; 53% HAD for emotional disorders; 53% CFE-30 for cognitive alterations. Conclusions. There are few scales that, from the patient’s perspective, reflect the basic clinical situation of those affected by persistent COVID and its evolution in a comprehensive manner, so it is necessary to develop a specific measurement scale for persistent COVID, which reflects its affectation in a holistic manner, integrates the evolutionary follow-up of its symptoms and can assess the different aspects of its clinical presentation.