Persistent fatigue occurs in more than half of patients recovered from Covid-19, regardless of the seriousness of their infection shown in a major study conducted by the researchers.
The study author Liam Townsend from St James’s Hospital in Ireland said, “While the presenting features of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been well-characterized, the medium and long-term consequences of infection remain unexplored.”
The research team used a commonly-used scale to determine fatigue in recovered patients for the study, called the Chalder Fatigue Score (CFQ-11).
They also looked at the severity of the patient’s initial infection (need for admission, and critical/intensive care), and also their pre-existing conditions, including depression.
They also looked at various markers of immune activation (white cell counts, C-reactive protein, Interluekin-6, and sCD25).
The study included 128 participants (mean age 50 years; 54 percent female) who were recruited consecutively at a median of 10 weeks following clinical recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection.
More than half reported persistent fatigue (52.3 percent; 67/128) at this point.
The researchers offered an outpatient appointment to anyone who had a Covid-19 positive swab test in their laboratory at St James Hospital.
Of the patients assessed in this study, 71/128 (55.5 percent) were admitted to the hospital and 57/128 (44.5 percent) were not.
“Fatigue was found to occur independent of admission to hospital, affecting both groups equally,” Townsend explained.