ArticleFrontiers in public health2023
Significant burden of post-COVID exertional dyspnoea in a South-Italy region: knowledge of risk factors might prevent further critical overload on the healthcare system.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bidirectional associations between influenza and COVID-19 vaccination: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review investigating emerging trends between Extreme Weather Events (EWEs) and infectious disease outbreaks in South Africa.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- The impact of COVID-19 on general vaccine acceptance in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Graph-aware spatio-temporal attention for forecasting HIV/AIDS case counts in public health surveillance.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- A systemic, multistakeholder participatory approach to research, innovation and action agenda setting for more integrated and effective prevention of HIV and other STIs: the case of Catalonia, Spain.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Self-care strategies and interventions to address antimicrobial resistance: evidence review and recommendations for national programs, service providers, caregivers, and self-carers.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- The trigger-timing framework for long COVID: using symptom triggers and temporal patterns to guide mechanistic stratification and treatment planning.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Strengthening field epidemiology capacity in Canada: a mixed-methods evaluation of the Canadian field epidemiology program.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Combinatorial (bio-geo-temporal) and non-combinatorial analysis of the COVID-19 dissemination that affected Georgia (the country) in 2021.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Antimicrobial stewardship challenges at a referral Hospital in Western Kenya: insights from a Kakamega-Cambridge health partnership.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Local policy governance arrangements and COVID-19-related mortality in municipalities in Japan: a cross-sectional ecological study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Exertional dyspnoea in post-COVID syndrome is a debilitating manifestation, requiring appropriate comprehensive management. However, limited-resources healthcare systems might be unable to expand their healthcare-providing capacity and are expected to be overwhelmed by increasing healthcare demand. Furthermore, since post-COVID exertional dyspnoea is regarded to represent an umbrella term, encompassing several clinical conditions, stratification of patients with post-COVID exertional dyspnoea, depending on risk factors and underlying aetiologies might provide useful for healthcare optimization and potentially help relieve healthcare service from overload. Hence, we aimed to investigate the frequency, functional characterization, and predictors of post-COVID exertional dyspnoea in a large cohort of post-COVID patients in Apulia, Italy, at 3-month post-acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: A cohort of laboratory-confirmed 318 patients, both domiciliary or hospitalized, was evaluated in a post-COVID Unit outpatient setting. Post-COVID exertional dyspnoea and other post-COVID syndrome manifestations were collected by medical history. Functional characterization of post-COVID exertional dyspnoea was performed through a 6-min walking test (6-mwt). The association of post-COVID exertional dyspnoea with possible risk factors was investigated through univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: At medical evaluation, post-COVID exertional dyspnoea was reported by as many as 190/318 patients (59.7%), showing relatively high prevalence also in domiciliary-course patients. However, functional characterization disclosed a 6-mwt-based desaturation walking drop in only 24.1% of instrumental post-COVID exertional dyspnoea patients. Multivariate analysis identified five independent predictors significantly contributing to PCED, namely post-COVID-fatigue, pre-existing respiratory co-morbidities, non-asthmatic allergy history, age, and acute-phase-dyspnoea. Sex-restricted multivariate analysis identified a differential risk pattern for males (pre-existing respiratory co-morbidities, age, acute-phase-dyspnoea) and females (post-COVID-fatigue and acute-phase-dyspnoea). Conclusion: Our findings revealed that post-COVID exertional dyspnoea is characterized by relevant clinical burden, with potential further strain on healthcare systems, already weakened by pandemic waves. Sex-based subgroup analysis reveals sex-specific dyspnoea-underlying risk profiles and pathogenic mechanisms. Knowledge of sex-specific risk-determining factors might help optimize personalized care management and healthcare resources.
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