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Association between palliative care and chronic diseases in persistent Covid patients in an Ecuadorian hospital

Abstract:

The worsening of the course of the COVID-19 infection is favored by comorbidity with underlying chronic diseases, increasing the lethality of the disease. After SARS-CoV-2 infection, the persistence of various disorders related to the disease has been described, called post-COVID-19 syndrome, whose symptoms frequently occur in patients with severe initial disease, being responsible for a high percentage of deaths worldwide. A study was conducted in 93 patients with symptoms of persistent COVID in the last 6 months and a previous diagnosis of chronic disease, in order to determine the association between palliative care and chronic diseases in persistent COVID patients in an Ecuadorian hospital. In order to do this, clinical data were obtained and an instrument with Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool was applied with 27 dichotomous response items. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The most prevalent organic symptoms were headache, anxiety, depression, cough; highlighting the pain and fatigue among the systemic. A higher prevalence of chronic diseases was obtained in women and patients older than 65 years, in addition, a high percentage of patients with chronic diseases presented more than one comorbidity and required palliative care. The study demonstrates a direct association between palliative care and chronic disease comorbidity in persistent COVID patients; based on the need to alleviate symptoms and improve the quality of life of affected patients.