Determinants of post-COVID-19 symptoms among adults aged 55 or above with chronic conditions in primary care: data from a prospective cohort in Hong Kong.

Background: Primary care patients, especially those with an older age, are one of the most vulnerable populations for post-COVID-19 symptoms. Identifying predictors of post-COVID symptoms can help identify high-risk individuals for preventive care. Methods: Out of 977 primary care patients aged 55 years or above with comorbid physical and psychosocial conditions in a prospective cohort in Hong Kong, 207 patients infected in the previous 5-24 weeks were included. The three most common post-COVID-19 symptoms (breathlessness, fatigue, cognitive difficulty), which lasted beyond the 4-week acute infection period, were assessed using items from the COVID-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Scale (C19-YRS), together with other self-reported symptoms. Multivariable analyses were conducted to identify predictors of post-acute and long COVID-19 symptoms (5-24 weeks after infection). Results: The 207 participants had a mean age of 70.8 ± 5.7 years, 76.3% were female, and 78.7% had ≥2 chronic conditions. In total, 81.2% reported at least one post-COVID symptom (mean: 1.9 ± 1.3); 60.9, 56.5 and 30.0% reported fatigue, cognitive difficulty, and breathlessness respectively; 46.1% reported at least one other new symptom (such as other respiratory-related symptoms (14.0%), insomnia or poor sleep quality (14.0%), and ear/nose/throat symptoms (e.g., sore throat) (10.1%), etc.). Depression predicted post-COVID-19 fatigue. The female sex predicted cognitive difficulty. Receiving fewer vaccine doses (2 doses vs. 3 doses) was associated with breathlessness. Anxiety predicted a higher overall symptom severity level of the three common symptoms. Conclusion: Depression, the female sex, and fewer vaccine doses predicted post-COVID symptoms. Promoting vaccination and providing intervention to those at high-risk for post-COVID symptoms are warranted.

Handgrip strength but not SARC-F score predicts cognitive impairment in older adults with multimorbidity in primary care: a cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Assessing motor function is a simple way to track cognitive impairment. We analysed the associations between cognitive and motor function and assessed the predictive value of two motor function measuring tools for cognitive impairment in older adults with multimorbidity in primary care settings. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study with a 1 year follow-up. Patients aged ≥60 years with ≥2 morbidities were recruited from four primary care clinics. Motor function was assessed using handgrip strength and a sarcopenia screening scale (SARC-F). Cognitive function was measured using the Hong Kong Montreal Cognitive Assessment (HK-MoCA). We defined cognitive impairment as an HK-MoCA score < 22. The associations between cognitive and motor functions were examined from a bidirectional perspective. RESULTS: We included 477 participants (mean age 69.4, 68.6% female) with a mean (SD) HK-MoCA score of 25.5 (3.38), SARC-F score of 1.1 (1.36), and handgrip strength of 21.2 (6.99) kg at baseline. Multivariable linear regression models showed bidirectional cross-sectional associations of the HK-MoCA score and cognitive impairment with SARC-F score and handgrip strength at baseline and 1 year. Cox regression revealed a longitudinal association between baseline handgrip strength and cognitive impairment at 1 year (hazard ratio: 0.48, 95% CI 0.33-0.69) but no longitudinal association between SARC-F and cognitive impairment. Variation in the SARC-F score increased with decreasing HK-MoCA score (Brown-Forsythe test F statistic = 17.9, p < 0.001), while variability in the handgrip strength remained small (modified signed-likelihood ratio test, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Primary healthcare providers may use handgrip strength to track cognitive function decline in older adults with multimorbidity. However, the SARC-F scale may not have the same predictive value. Further research is needed to evaluate the performance and variability of the SARC-F score in individuals with poor cognitive function.

Poor health literacy associated with stronger perceived barriers to breast cancer screening and overestimated breast cancer risk.

Background: Low health literacy (HL) is negatively associated with mammography screening uptake. However, evidence of the links between poor HL and low mammography screening participation is scarce. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey among participants of a cancer screening program. We measured HL using a validated Chinese instrument. We assessed breast cancer screening-related beliefs using the Health Belief Model and the accuracy of risk perception. We used multivariable regression models to estimate the relationship between HL and the outcomes. Results: A total of 821 females were included. 264 (32.2%) had excellent or sufficient, 353 (43.0%) had problematic, and 204 (24.8%) had inadequate health literacy (IHL). Women with IHL were more likely to agree that high price (ß = -0.211, 95% CI -0.354 to -0.069), lack of time (ß = -0.219, 95% CI -0.351 to -0.088), inconvenient service time (ß = -0.291, 95% CI -0.421 to -0.160), long waiting time (ß = -0.305, 95% CI -0.447 to -0.164), fear of positive results (ß = -0.200, 95% CI -0.342 to -0.058), embarrassment (ß = -0.225, 95% CI -0.364 to -0.086), fear of pain (ß = -0.154, 95% CI -0.298 to -0.010), fear of radiation (ß = -0.177, 95% CI -0.298 to -0.056), lack of knowledge on service location (ß = -0.475, 95% CI -0.615 to -0.335), and lack of knowledge on mammography (ß = -0.360, 95% CI -0.492 to -0.228) were barriers. They were also less likely to have an accurate breast cancer risk perception (aOR 0.572, 95% CI 0.341 to 0.956). Conclusion: Women with lower HL could have stronger perceived barriers to BC screening and an over-estimation of their breast cancer risk. Tackling emotional and knowledge barriers, financial and logistical assistance, and guidance on risk perception are needed to increase their breast cancer screening uptake.