{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]],"date-time":"2026-09-17T00:05:47Z","timestamp":1789603547705,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,12]],"date-time":"2020-09-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1599868800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: A large sample of \u201cmild\u201d COVID-19 patients still experience multiple symptoms months after being infected. These persistent symptoms are associated with many clinically relevant outcomes, including poor health status and impaired functional status. To date, no information is available about care dependency. Therefore, we aimed to explore the level of care dependency and the need for assistance with personal care in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods: Members of two Facebook groups for COVID-19 patients with persistent complaints in The Netherlands and Belgium, and from a panel of people who registered at a website of the Lung Foundation Netherlands, were assessed for demographics, pre-existing comorbidities, health status, and symptoms. In addition, patients were asked about their dependence on others for personal care before and after the infection. The level of care dependency was assessed with the Care Dependency Scale (CDS) in members of the Belgian Facebook group (n = 210). Results: The data of 1837 non-hospitalized patients (86% women; median (IQR) age: 47 (38\u201354)) were analyzed. Only a small proportion of patients needed help with personal care before COVID-19, but the care need increased significantly after the infection (on average 79 \u00b1 17 days after the onset of symptoms; 7.7% versus 52.4%, respectively; p &lt; 0.05). The patients had a median (IQR) CDS score of 72 (67\u201375) points, and 31% of the patients were considered as care-dependent (CDS score \u2264 68 points). Conclusions: COVID-19 has an important impact on care dependency in non-hospitalized patients. About three months after the onset of symptoms, a considerable proportion of non-hospitalized patients were to some degree dependent on others for personal care. This indicates that the impact of COVID-19 on patients\u2019 daily lives is tremendous, and more attention is needed to identify optimal treatment strategies to restore patients\u2019 independency.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm9092946","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,13]],"date-time":"2020-09-13T21:11:32Z","timestamp":1600031492000},"page":"2946","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":68,"title":["Care Dependency in Non-Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4136-1553","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anouk W.","family":"Vaes","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Research and Development, Ciro, 6085 NM Horn, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1910-7695","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Felipe V.C.","family":"Machado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Research and Development, Ciro, 6085 NM Horn, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Nutrim School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, 6229 HX Maastricht, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Department of Respiratory Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+), 6229 HX Maastricht, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4855-530X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roy","family":"Meys","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Research and Development, Ciro, 6085 NM Horn, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Nutrim School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, 6229 HX Maastricht, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Department of Respiratory Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+), 6229 HX Maastricht, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5203-1592","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jeannet M.","family":"Delbressine","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Research and Development, Ciro, 6085 NM Horn, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3453-7220","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yvonne M.J.","family":"Goertz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Research and Development, Ciro, 6085 NM Horn, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Nutrim School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, 6229 HX Maastricht, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Department of Respiratory Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+), 6229 HX Maastricht, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3333-6964","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maarten","family":"Van Herck","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Research and Development, Ciro, 6085 NM Horn, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Nutrim School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, 6229 HX Maastricht, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Department of Respiratory Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+), 6229 HX Maastricht, The Netherlands"},{"name":"REVAL\u2014Rehabilitation Research Center, BIOMED\u2014Biomedical Research Institute, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hasselt University, 3500 Diepenbeek, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6214-0365","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sarah","family":"Houben-Wilke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Research and Development, Ciro, 6085 NM Horn, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Frits M.E.","family":"Franssen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Research and Development, Ciro, 6085 NM Horn, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Nutrim School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, 6229 HX Maastricht, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Department of Respiratory Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+), 6229 HX Maastricht, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Herman","family":"Vijlbrief","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lung Foundation Netherlands, 3818 LE Amersfoort, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yvonne","family":"Spies","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lung Foundation Netherlands, 3818 LE Amersfoort, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5514-2327","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alex J.","family":"Van \u2019t Hul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pulmonary Disease, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chris","family":"Burtin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"REVAL\u2014Rehabilitation Research Center, BIOMED\u2014Biomedical Research Institute, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hasselt University, 3500 Diepenbeek, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1827-9869","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daisy J.A.","family":"Janssen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Research and Development, Ciro, 6085 NM Horn, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Department of Health Services Research, Care and Public Health Research Institute, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, 6229 ER Maastricht, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3822-7430","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Martijn A.","family":"Spruit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Research and Development, Ciro, 6085 NM Horn, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Nutrim School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, 6229 HX Maastricht, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Department of Respiratory Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+), 6229 HX Maastricht, The Netherlands"},{"name":"REVAL\u2014Rehabilitation Research Center, BIOMED\u2014Biomedical Research Institute, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hasselt University, 3500 Diepenbeek, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"335","DOI":"10.1111\/joim.13089","article-title":"Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of 1420 European patients with mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019","volume":"228","author":"Lechien","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. 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