Background: Long COVID patients suffer a negative impact on their quality of life, as well as their functioning, productivity or socialization. There is a need to better understand the individual experience and circumstances surrounding these patients. Objective: To characterize clinical picture of Long COVID patients and to identify factors associated with quality of life. Methods: A secondary data analysis from a randomized clinical trial (RCT) was carried out with 100 Long COVID patients treated by Primary Health Care and residents in the territory of Aragon (northeast of Spain). The main variable of the study was quality of life, evaluated using the SF-36 Questionnaire, in relation to socio-demographic and clinical variables. In addition, ten validated scales were used that contemplated their cognitive, affective, functional and social status, as well as personal constructs. Correlation statistics and linear regression model were calculated. Results: Long COVID patients suffer a decrease in their levels of physical and mental health. On the one hand, the higher number of persistent symptoms (b = -0.900, p = 0.008), worse physical functioning (b = 1.587, p = 0.002) and sleep quality (b = -0.538, p = 0.035) are predictors of worse quality of life, physical subscale. On the other hand, higher educational level (b = 13.167, p = 0.017), lower number of persistent symptoms (b = -0.621, p = 0.057) and higher affective affectation (b = -1.402, p<0.001) are predictors of worse quality of life, mental subscale. Conclusion: It is necessary to design rehabilitation programs that consider both the physical and mental health of these patients, thus obtaining an improvement in their quality of life.

Objective: To analyse the overall effectiveness and cost-efficiency of a mobile application (APP) as a community health asset (HA) with recommendations and recovery exercises created bearing in mind the main symptoms presented by patients in order to improve their quality of life, as well as other secondary variables, such as the number and severity of ongoing symptoms, physical and cognitive functions, affective state, and sleep quality. Methods: The first step was to design and develop the technologic community resource, the APP, following the steps involved in the process of recommending health assets (RHA). After this, a protocol of a randomised clinical trial for analysing its effectiveness and cost-efficiency as a HA was developed. The participants will be assigned to: (1st) usual treatment by the primary care practitioner (TAU), as a control group; and (2nd) TAU + use of the APP as a HA and adjuvant treatment in their recovery + three motivational interviews (MI), as an interventional group. An evaluation will be carried out at baseline with further assessments three and six months following the end of the intervention. Discussion: Although research and care for these patients are still in their initial stages, it is necessary to equip patients and health care practitioners with tools to assist in their recovery. Furthermore, enhanced motivation can be achieved through telerehabilitation (TR).

Introducción: La sintomatología característica del síndrome de Long-COVID afecta al funcionamiento físico y cognitivo de las personas que lo padecen, creando desafíos a la hora de regresar a su puesto de trabajo habitual. El objetivo del presente estudio fue profundizar en la comprensión acerca de la situación laboral de las personas que padecen este síndrome y sus factores sociodemográficos y clínicos asociados. Material y métodos: Se realizó un estudio transversal con la participación de 83 pacientes con diagnóstico de Long-COVID, mayores de 18 años y atendidos desde Atención Primaria de Salud en la Comunidad Autónoma de Aragón. La variable principal de estudio fue la situación laboral de los participantes, además de recogerse datos sociodemográficos y clínicos mediante la realización de una entrevista estructurada. Posteriormente se realizó un análisis estadístico descriptivo, de correlación y de regresión mediante el programa SPSS Statistics. Resultados: De los 83 participantes del estudio, un 55,4% se encontraba en situación laboral activa, y un 44,6% en situación de incapacidad laboral temporal. Un mayor número de síntomas persistentes y pertenecer al género masculino fueron factores predictores de una mayor probabilidad de encontrarse en situación de incapacidad laboral temporal. Discusión: Un gran porcentaje de personas con Long-COVID se encuentran de baja o incapacidad laboral temporal, lo que la necesidad de elaborar programas de prevención y actuación desde equipos de atención sociosanitaria con el objetivo de estas personas no pierdan su empleo de manera temporal o definitiva o, si esto ya ha sucedido, recuperen su situación laboral previa cuanto antes.

The main objective of this study is to analyse the clinical efficacy of medium-term telerehabilitation in the recovery of patients with Long COVID using ReCOVery APP, administered in the Primary Health Care (PHC) setting. The second objective is to identify significant patterns associated with an improvement in their quality of life predicted by other study variables. To this end, a randomised clinical trial was conducted with two parallel groups of a total of 100 patients with Long COVID. The control group continued with their usual treatment (TAU), established by their primary care physician. The intervention group, in addition to continuing with their TAU, attended three sessions based on motivational methodology and used ReCOVery APP for six months. The main variable was quality of life. The results of this study concluded that ReCOVery APP was not significantly more effective in improving the quality of life of patients with Long COVID. There was low adherence of participants. However, linear regression analyses revealed significant patterns of improvement in overall quality of life and mental health predicted by time of use of the APP and the personal construct of self-efficacy. In addition, all participants significantly improved their physical and mental health over the duration of the intervention. In conclusion, meaningful use of the ReCOVery APP may contribute to improving the quality of life of patients with Long COVID, but strategies to improve adherence need to be encouraged. Trial Registration No: ISRCTN91104012.

Introduction. The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the mental health of the world's population. Both fear and anxiety have been common factors in all societies. The objective of the study is to analyze the sociodemographic and clinical profile of referrals made from Primary Care (PC) to a Mental Health Unit (MHU) during the first months of the pandemic and confinement in Spain.Material and methods. A cross-sectional descriptive retrospective study was carried out using an ad-hoc questionnaire, administered in 105 subjects, during the months of March and October 2020. The main variable of the study was whether the demand was a consequence of COVID-19 or not. The secondary variables are the sociodemographic profile (gender, age, place of residence, healthy lifestyle, and work situation) and the clinical profile (main, secondary and COVID-19 diagnosis, relapse episode, medical history, substance use and use of psychiatric drugs).Results. Referred patients are mainly diagnosed with anxiety and depression and considered COVID-19 as the main cause of their mental discomfort if they are people who reside in an urban nucleus, if their main diagnosis was hypochondria, or if they did not consume substances.Discussion. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic can vary according to the sociodemographic and clinical profile of the population; therefore, they must be studied more thoroughly, especially in patients with previous mental health problems.