Persistent fatigue following SARS-CoV-2 infection is common and independent of severity of initial infection
By L. Townsend, A. Dyer, K. Jones, J. Dunne, Aoife Mooney, Fiona Gaffney, Laura O'Connor, Deirdre Leavy, K. O’Brien, J. Dowds and 11 more. medRxiv, 2020
820 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Fatigue is a common symptom in those presenting with symptomatic COVID-19 infection. However, it is unknown if COVID-19 results in persistent fatigue in those recovered from acute infection. We examined the prevalence of fatigue in individuals recovered from the acute phase of COVID-19 illness using the Chalder Fatigue Score (CFQ-11). We further examined potential predictors of fatigue following COVID-19 infection, evaluating indicators of COVID-19 severity, markers of peripheral immune activation and circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines. Of 128 participants (49.5 {+/-} 15 years; 54% female), more than half reported persistent fatigue (52.3%; 45/128) at 10 weeks (median) after initial COVID-19 symptoms. There was no association between COVID-19 severity (need for inpatient admission, supplemental oxygen or critical care) and fatigue following COVID-19. Additionally, there was no association between routine laboratory markers of inflammation and cell turnover (leukocyte, neutrophil or lymphocyte counts, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein) or pro-inflammatory molecules (IL-6 or sCD25) and fatigue post COVID-19. Female gender and those with a pre-existing diagnosis of depression/anxiety were over-represented in those with fatigue. Our findings demonstrate a significant burden of post-viral fatigue in individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection after the acute phase of COVID-19 illness. This study highlights the importance of assessing those recovering from COVID-19 for symptoms of severe fatigue, irrespective of severity of initial illness, and may identify a group worthy of further study and early intervention.
Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Neurology, Psychiatry and Mental health
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/372cb080e4e835478d1d25e63db60965601a0e85
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Clinical Psychology
In Neurology
Citations in the corpus
- Long COVID or post-COVID-19 syndrome: putative pathophysiology, risk factors, and treatments (2021, background): “However, other studies have found no changes in pro-inflammatory biomarkers (e.g. CRP, D-dimer, IL-6, CD25, and neutrophil and lymphocyte counts) between COVID-19 cases with and without persistent symptoms [39,41,150,151,46].”
- Post-COVID syndrome in non-hospitalised patients with COVID-19: a longitudinal prospective cohort study (2021, background): “Female patients and individuals with a prior diagnosis of depression or anxiety had a higher risk of suffering from fatigue [18].”
- Long COVID: An overview (2021, background): “Female sex and diagnosis of depression/ anxiety is more common in those with fatigue [30].”
- More Than 50 Long-Term Effects of COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2021, neutral): “Hearing loss or tinnitus 2 64 425 15 (10-20)”