©Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2026. No commercial re-use. See Permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Crit Care Med. Mar 9, 2026; 15(1): 114620
Published online Mar 9, 2026. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v15.i1.114620
Published online Mar 9, 2026. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v15.i1.114620
Persistent health complications in COVID-19 hospitalized patients at tertiary care hospital in Western India
Ashish Jain, Ravi Jain, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, Jaipur 302022, Rājasthān, India
Pushpendra Saraswat, Ayushi Sharma, Vinod Sharma, Central Research Facility, Mahatma Gandhi University of Medical Sciences and Technology, Jaipur 302022, Rājasthān, India
Author contributions: Jain A and Jain R contributed to conceptualize the study, analysed the data, reviewed, edited the initial manuscript and prepared and reviewed final manuscript; Saraswat P, Sharma A, and Sharma VK, did the data harvesting, curation, investigation, wrote the initial manuscript and reviewed the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Mahatma Gandhi University of Medical Sciences & Technology, Jaipur, vide letter reference number, No. /MGMC&H/ECI/JPR/2023/1705, issued to Dr. Ashish Jain on November 2, 2023. The institutional review board granted permission to conduct this study. The authors solemnly declare that this study was conducted in accordance with the best ethical principles, upholding the highest standards of ethical practice, and that the findings are reported with complete honesty and transparency.
Informed consent statement: The authors declare that the study involved a telephonic survey of patients and no face-to-face interaction was carried out with the participants. Before commencing each telephonic interview, verbal informed consent was obtained from the participants by the interviewers. Only those patients who provided consent were included in the study. All of their details were kept confidential.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interest pertinent to this project.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement – checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement – checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: Authors are willing to share de-identified core data of this study upon reasonable request subject to approval from the institute’s authorities.
Corresponding author: Ravi Jain, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, SRCC Building, Sitapura, Jaipur 302022, Rajasthan, India. ravijainstar@gmail.com
Received: September 25, 2025
Revised: November 3, 2025
Accepted: December 19, 2025
Published online: March 9, 2026
Processing time: 156 Days and 16.3 Hours
Revised: November 3, 2025
Accepted: December 19, 2025
Published online: March 9, 2026
Processing time: 156 Days and 16.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Long coronavirus disease (COVID) can persist even after three years. In this study, we found that 14.3% of the discharged patients developed persistent systemic symptoms, and about 4.8% (n = 51) of patients are still undergoing treatment for post-COVID-19-related illnesses. Patients report a wide variety of symptoms ranging from pulmonary (2.57%), chronic body aches (1.9%), cardiovascular (1.61%), and diabetes (1.61%) to general fatigue (1.24%). Vaccination status was not associated with the development, course, or treatment status of post-COVID-19 disease (P value: 0.82, 0.21, and 0.12, respectively).