Fatigue in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: Clinical Phenomenology, Comorbidities and Association With Initial Course of COVID-19

Lara Diem; Livia Fregolente-Gomes; Jan D Warncke; Helly Hammer; Christoph Friedli; Nicole Kamber; Simon Jung; Sandra Bigi; Manuela Funke-Chambour; Andrew Chan; Claudio L Bassetti; Anke Salmen; Robert Hoepner

doi:10.1177/11795735221102727

Fatigue in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: Clinical Phenomenology, Comorbidities and Association With Initial Course of COVID-19

J Cent Nerv Syst Dis. 2022 May 24:14:11795735221102727. doi: 10.1177/11795735221102727. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Freiburgstrasse, Bern, Switzerland.
² Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Mittelstrasse, Bern, Switzerland.
³ Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

Abstract

Introduction: Post-COVID-19 syndrome affects approximately 10-25% of people suffering from COVID-19 infection, irrespective of initial COVID-19 severity. Fatigue is one of the major symptoms, occurring in 30-90% of people with post-COVID-19 syndrome. This study aims at describing factors associated with fatigue in people with Post-COVID-19 seen in our newly established Post-Covid clinic.

Methods: This retrospective single center study included 42 consecutive patients suffering from Post-COVID-19 syndrome treated at the Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bern, between 11/2020 and05/2021. Clinical phenomenology of Post-COVID-19 syndrome with a special focus on fatigue and risk factor identification was performed using Mann-Whitney U Test, Pearson Correlation, and Chi-Quadrat-Test.

Results: Fatigue (90.5%) was the most prevalent Post-COVID-19 symptom followed by depressive mood (52.4%) and sleep disturbance (47.6%). Fatigue was in mean severe (Fatigue severity scale (FSS) mean 5.5 points (95% Confidence interval (95CI) 5.1 - 5.9, range .9 - 6.9, n = 40), and it was unrelated to age, COVID-19 severity or sex. The only related factors with fatigue severity were daytime sleepiness and depressed mood.

Conclusion: Fatigue is the main symptom of the Post-COVID-19 syndrome in our cohort. Further studies describing this syndrome are needed to prepare the healthcare systems for the challenge of treating patients with Post-COVID-19 syndrome.

Keywords: SARS-CoV2; corona virus; long-term symptoms; neuropsychiatric symptoms; post infectious; viral infection.