Long COVID syndrome: psychological and sexual dysfunction among survivors of COVID-19 infection

Sana A Khan; Rabeeah Ashkar; Sona Kumari; Raja R Khenhrani; Shafqat Ullah; Rahimeen Rajpar; Hareem Arshad; Johum Aziz Haque; Kiran Abbas; Javeria Khan; Bipin Poudel; Sushmita Bhandari; Moiz Ahmed; Jawed A Dars

doi:10.1097/MS9.0000000000001153

Long COVID syndrome: psychological and sexual dysfunction among survivors of COVID-19 infection

Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2023 Aug 8;85(10):4788-4793. doi: 10.1097/MS9.0000000000001153. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Authors

Sana A Khan¹, Rabeeah Ashkar¹, Sona Kumari², Raja R Khenhrani³, Shafqat Ullah⁴, Rahimeen Rajpar⁵, Hareem Arshad⁵, Johum Aziz Haque⁵, Kiran Abbas⁶, Javeria Khan⁵, Bipin Poudel⁷, Sushmita Bhandari⁸, Moiz Ahmed⁹, Jawed A Dars¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Liaquat College of Medicine and Dentistry.
² Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women Nawabshah, SBA, Sindh.
³ Internal Medicine Fellow, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical College and Lyari General Hospital.
⁴ Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
⁵ Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center.
⁶ Department of Community Health Sciences, Agha Khan University.
⁷ Chitwan Om Hospital, Bharatpur.
⁸ Department of Health Services, Shankarnagar Health Post, Rupandehi, Nepal.
⁹ Department of Adult Cardiology, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Child Health, Karachi.

Abstract

Background: To explore the neuropsychiatric symptoms, sleep disturbances, and sexual dysfunction in patients with long COVID syndrome, which can help in building better follow-up strategies for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) survivors.

Material and methods: A cross-sectional research was undertaken at the premises of a psychiatry unit at a tertiary care unit in Karachi, Pakistan, between August 2022 and April 2023. All individuals aged 18 years or older, who had a history of contracting COVID-19 infection in the last 12 months presented to the department of Psychiatry with neuropsychiatric symptoms were recruited. Using a predefined questionnaire, data was collected from the participants. A linear logistic regression was used to find the impact of age, sex, hospitalization, and duration of home isolation on the likelihood of persistent neuropsychiatric symptoms or sexual dysfunction.

Results: A total of 457 patients were included. It was found that individuals were less likely to experience neuropsychiatric symptoms as age increased (OR=0.968, 95% CI: 0.949-0.986, P=0.001). Females were 4.8 times more likely to experience neuropsychiatric symptoms than males, and the association was extremely significant (OR=4.851, 95% CI: 3.085-7.626, P<0.0001). An increase in age raised the odds of having sleep disturbances among the survivors by 2.7 times (OR=2.672, 95% CI: 2.654-2.684, P<0.0001). The odds of having sleep disturbances were three times more likely in female participants as compared to male participants (OR=3.00, 95% CI: 1.771-5.094, P<0.0001).

Conclusion: The majority of the COVID-19 survivors are presenting with persistent neuropsychiatric and sexual symptoms in our setting. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain proper follow-up with the survivors of COVID-19 and counsel the patients to inform the family physician if these symptoms persist for longer than a month. Increasing such practices of regular follow-ups with COVID-19 survivors can help in detecting early neuropsychiatric and sexual changes.

Keywords: COVID-19; erectile dysfunction; insomnia; libido; long COVID syndrome; neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.23608491.v1