The use of patient-reported outcome questionnaires in patients with post-COVID-19 condition: a systematic review and...

Post-COVID-19 condition (PCC) is a complication of acute COVID-19, which often presents with a variety of symptoms. It can also impact individuals' overall well-being, capacity to carry out daily activities, engage in physical exercise, maintain employment, and their general quality of life. Therefore, this review aimed to examine the role of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) questionnaires in assessing patients with PCC through prevalence of abnormal tests.

We searched three databases. Two reviewers independently screened articles using Laser Al and extracted relevant data using a piloted Google Sheets. We performed a meta-analysis using OpenMeta and RevManWeb and conducted a subgroup analysis based on the setting of the patients during their acute COVID-19 infection. We assessed the risk of bias using a modified ROBINS-I tool and the certainty using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach.

No studies reported diagnostic test accuracy measures for questionnaires in PCC. However, 23 comparative studies reported on the prevalence of abnormal questionnaire results in patients with PCC. Outcomes showed that patients with PCC have higher abnormal results than controls, regardless of their setting during acute COVID-19 infection. The overall certainty of the evidence was low due to the high risk of bias, indirectness, and imprecision.

This review sheds light on the importance of testing PROMs in patients with PCC using these questionnaires and the need for further testing their validity in this condition.