The lasting battle of COVID-19 long-haulers

Months after infection with SARS-CoV-2, some people are still battling fatigue. In a study, severe fatigue was negatively correlated with disease severity up to 10 months after initial infection.

Severe fatigue remained highly prevalent in both hospitalised and non-hospitalised patients

Since the emergence of COVID-19, millions of people have been infected globally. Cases of long COVID-19 are still increasing. However, little is known about long-term consequences of COVID-19. “One point that has become increasingly clear is that fatigue is the most reported symptom during recovery,” Ms Zjala Ebadi (Radboud UMC, the Netherlands) pointed out¹.

The main goal of the study was to determine the long-term prevalence of severe fatigue in patients after recovering from COVID-19 infection. Patients were recruited during their visit to the multidisciplinary aftercare facility; 3 study groups were distinguished: intensive care unit (ICU) patients, hospitalised non-ICU patients, and non-hospitalised patients referred by general practitioners for persisting symptoms. Between May 2020 and May 2021 participants were examined during 2 consultations with a 2-month interval. Fatigue was assessed using Checklist Individual Strength (severe fatigue ≥35).

In total, 236 patients were included in the study. Fatigue was present in 58% of ICU (n=31), 66% of hospitalised non-ICU (n=77), and 94% of GP-referred (n=128) patients during the first consultation (average 3.7 months after COVID-19), and 52%, 64%, and 75%, respectively, during the second consultation (average 8.2 months after COVID-19). In short, severe fatigue remained highly prevalent in both hospitalised patients and non-hospitalised patients even up to 10 months after COVID-19. Future studies should focus on preventing COVID-19 fatigue to become chronic.