Self-Rated Health and Persistent Symptoms Among Adults Reporting Previous SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Cross-Sectional...

Background/Objectives: Health self-assessment captures perceived physical and psychological well-being. This study described current and recalled pre-infection health ratings, persistent symptoms, and sociodemographic and clinical correlates among adults reporting previous severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 120 adults was conducted at University Clinical Hospital No. 4 in Lublin, Poland, and online between January and April 2026. An author-designed questionnaire assessed sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, current and recalled pre-infection general health, and symptoms following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) assessed current psychological symptoms. Both general health ratings were obtained in the same survey. Bivariate analyses used non-parametric tests and chi-square tests, with p < 0.05 as the nominal significance threshold. Results: Very good health was reported by 44.2% when recalling pre-infection health and by 28.3% for current health. Current health ratings were associated with age, education, employment, financial situation, and reported disease severity (all p < 0.001). The most commonly reported current complaints were fatigue/weakness (30.8%), cognitive disturbances ('brain fog'; 17.5%), and dyspnoea (16.7%). Mean normalised GHQ-30 domain scores were 37.1/100 for anxiety and depression, 39.0/100 for general functioning, and 30.5/100 for interpersonal relationships. Poorer financial situation and more COVID-19 hospitalisations showed small positive correlations with poorer GHQ-30 scores (R = 0.19-0.27). Vaccine dose count showed a small correlation with general functioning (R = 0.18; p = 0.045). Conclusions: Current health was rated less favourably than recalled pre-infection health in this sample. Recall bias, selection effects, and unmeasured or uncontrolled confounding prevent attribution of this difference to infection. The exploratory associations do not establish independent risk factors, clinical diagnoses, or population prevalence.