The Health-related Quality of Life and Voice Handicap Index in Recovered COVID-19 Patients in Comparison to Healthy Subjects.

Introduction: COVID-19 has various long-lasting effects on different aspects of health and life. This study aimed to evaluate the general health and voice-related quality of life (QOL) and assess their correlation in patients with COVID-19 compared to healthy people.

Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study.

Methods: Sixty-eight subjects (with a mean age of 40.07 ± 5.62 years) participated in two groups including 34 recovered-COVID-19 patients and 34 healthy subjects. All participants completed the Persian version of Short Form 36 (SF-36) and Voice Handicap Index (VHI). The patients were assessed two months after recovery when they were discharged from the hospital.

Results: The results showed the COVID-19 patients got significantly lower scores in all subcategories and two main components of SF-36 compared to the healthy group (P < 0.005). Also, the patients held significantly higher results in VHI and its subscales (P < 0.005). A significant correlation was observed between the physical and mental component summary (PCS and MCS) of SF-36 with a total score of VHI in the COVID-19 patients.

Conclusion: COVID-19 has negative consequences on various aspects of general health and voice-related QOL. Two months after recovery from COVID-19, the patients had the worst scores in all subscales of SF-36 and also, decreased physical, emotional, and functional voice-related QOL which reveals the persistent effect of COVID-19 even after recovery. The general health and voice-related QOL had a noticeable correlation in recovered COVID-19 patients that demonstrates the effect of voice quality in different aspects of life.