Comparison with existing literature
infection, disability, anxiety
INFECTION
In line with the present study’s findings, adherence to pulse oximetry use was high in previous observational studies among patients with COVID-19.While it has been suggested by expert opinion that pulse oximetry could induce anxiety, the study found the opposite. Patients reported they felt safe when using the pulse oximeter, which is comparable with a high feeling of safety reported by patients in a 2020 case-control study.In 45 days, the mean percentage decrease in disability score, as measured with WHODAS 2.0, was 53.2% in the intervention group and 65.7% in the control group. Currently, as far as the authors are aware, there are no known studies that define which change would be deemed a clinically relevant improvement. The large decrease from baseline observed in the present study is likely explained by the serious clinical impact of COVID-19, where participants at baseline scored a high score above the 95th percentile compared with the general population. This decreased to a disability score around the 75th percentile (summary score 6.5) at day 45, which indicates that patients with COVID-19 have residual disabilities after their infection.