Description of frequent and persistent symptoms of COVID-19 among older adults who attend senior centers.

INTRODUCTION

COVID-19 not only acutely compromises peoples health but can also generate symptoms that remain weeks after the infection. Moreover, older adults may have different symptomatologic patterns than other age groups.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the acute and persistent symptoms of COVID-19 in older adult users of Social Security senior centers.

METHODS

A retrospective descriptive study was carried out by telephone call to older adults from five Peruvian senior centers, from July to September 2020, who reported being positive for COVID-19 in the last three months. Older adults were asked about associated symptoms, with a follow-up of up to four months.

RESULTS

The most frequent acute symptoms were cough, fever, headache, and myalgia. The mean num- ber of symptoms per person was one to three. We also found that 4.4% of COVID-19 cases had symptoms that persisted over three weeks.

CONCLUSIONS

Older persons in senior centers have a low frequency of persistent COVID-19 symptoms.