Marie Claire O’Dwyer, Kate Meixner, Laura Crespo Albiac, Christelle El Khoury, Nicoll Capizzano, Manasi Ramakrishnan, Cullen Salada, Wendy Furst, Elizabeth Haro, Martha Alves, Ananda Sen, Diane M Harper
Corresponding Author: Diane M Harper; University of Michigan. Email: diane.m.harper@gmail.com
Publication: June 3, 2021
Section: Original Research
Background: The health related quality of life (HRQoL) for adults with chronic and acute illnesses informs health and economic policy for pandemic recovery. Our primary aim was to compare the HRQoL of three illness cohorts of outpatient adults: those with diabetes (D), those who survived a hospitalization for SARS-CoV-2 (H) and those who had a respiratory virus not coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) (R). The secondary aim is to compare the cohort domain summary scores to the referent general population. Methods: We identified the three cohorts from the electronic medical record and invited them to complete the SF-36 survey. ANOVA and post hoc testing was used for univariate analyses followed by linear regression. We compared the summary scores for each domain to the general population. Results: 132 adults completed the survey. The cohorts differed least for physical functioning and most for emotional/mental health. Cohort H had the greatest limitation in role due to emotional issues [cohort: mean (SD) (H: 26.0 (37.6) vs. D: 50.7 (45.8) and R: 52.0 (44.1), p<0.01]. All cohorts had significantly lower social functioning scores than the general (G) population [(D: 63.0 (27.5) vs. H: 51.8 (26.1) vs R: 57.0 (27.4)) vs. G: 78.77 (25.43) , p<0.001]. Linear regression showed lower HRQoL domain score in role limitations due to emotional issues adjusted for age, race, and gender for the hospitalized cohort. Conclusions: The SF-36 scores show the decrease in HRQoL that outpatient adults have suffered, mostly in the emotional domain, regardless of illness cohort during the COVID-19 pandemic.