Title

Symptom burden, mental health and quality of life among COVID-associated mucormycosis patients: A prospective cohort study

Authors

Karanvir Singh Matharoo*¹, Sushma Bhatnagar², Shoibam Jenifa³, Rohan Chauhan⁴ & Santenna Chenchula*⁵

Affiliation

¹Department of palliative medicine, Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India; ²Department of Medicine, Clinical lead and senior consultant, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Sarita Vihar, New Delhi, India; ³Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Mangalagiri, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India; ⁴Department of Medicine, Fortis Hospital, Ludhiana, India; ⁵Department of Pharmacology, AIIMS Bhopal, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Karanvir Singh Matharoo - E-mail: singhkaranvir328@gmail.com
Sushma Bhatnagar - E-mail: sushmabhatnagar1@gmail.com
Shoibam Jenifa - E-mail: shoibam60@gmail.com
Rohan Chauhan - E-mail: chauhandude12@gmail.com
Santenna Chenchula - E-mail: csanten7@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received August 1, 2025; Revised August 31, 2025; Accepted August 31, 2025, Published August 31, 2025

Abstract

COVID-associated mucormycosis (CAM) is a severe fungal infection with lasting physical and psychological effects. This prospective cohort of 53 CAM patients evaluated symptom burden, depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), and quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) at baseline, 6 months and 1 year. Facial pain (89%) and headache (87%) were the most common symptoms; depression improved significantly (PHQ-9: 9.7 to 5.4; p < 0.001), while anxiety initially declined but rose again at 1 year. Quality of life improved in physical and psychological domains, whereas social and environmental aspects remained unchanged. Persistent challenges such as dysphagia (33%), voice changes (27%) and appearance concerns (27%) underscore the need for integrated long-term mental health and rehabilitation strategies in CAM care.

Keywords

Mucormycosis; COVID-19; depression; anxiety; mental health; quality of life

Citation

Matharoo et al. Bioinformation 21(8): 2272-2277 (2025)

Edited by

P Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.