Prevalence of Long COVID-19 Sequelae Among Malaysian Armed Forces Personnel – A Descriptive Introduction

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 infection has taken on the world rampantly since December 2019 by a wave of catastrophe with global prevalence crossing 490 million cases and mortality reaching a count of 6 million deaths. Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) military personnel were not spared from the pandemic and also contributed to the statistics. The aim of this study was to know the prevalence of long covid sequelae among military personnel and to describe the sociodemographic and employment characteristics of respondents. Methodology: This is a cross sectional study, which looks into prevalence of long COVID-19 sequelae or symptoms among MAF soldiers who were tested positive for COVID-19. Sampling method was convenience sampling. A self-administered questionnaire in Malay language was used to collect information needed. Results: As of December 2021, there were 10,061 MAF personnel tested positive for COVID-19. Among them a total of 3117 personnel (31%) participated in this research. The prevalence of long COVID-19 sequelae among them was 5.8% (n=181). Otherwise, 94.2% (n=2936) reported they have fully recovered from the disease without any morbidity. Conclusion: This study shows only a small percentage of MAF personnel are affected by long COVID-19 sequelae after 12 weeks of the initial COVID-19 diagnosis. More studies and statistical analysis is needed to determine the associations and predictors of long COVID-19 among MAF.