The Fatigue-Related Symptoms Post-Acute SARS-CoV-2: A Preliminary Comparative Study

Marie Thomas ()
Additional contact information
Marie Thomas: Reader in Psychology, Centre for Health and Cognition, Bath Spa University, Bath BA2 9BN, UK

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 18, 1-9

Abstract: A sizeable sub-group of individuals continue to experience persistent debilitating symptoms post-acute SARS-CoV-2. Although these can vary from person to person, fatigue appears to be the most common symptom. Post-viral fatigue has been documented in conditions such as influenza, infectious mononucleosis and more recently chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The current study uses measures that successfully describe the fatigue-related symptoms associated with CFS to investigate the fatigue experienced post-acute SARS-CoV-2. Twenty-six volunteers were recruited from Long COVID support groups active on social media. Data were collected anonymously using an online survey platform. These data were compared to pre-pandemic data from non-fatigued and CFS groups. The post-acute SARS-CoV-2 volunteers reported significantly higher levels of fatigue and cognitive difficulties than the non-fatigued controls. They also report more individual symptoms (such as lack of concentration) and problems with sleep quality. There was a similarity between the post-acute SARS-CoV-2 volunteers and the CFS group in terms of levels of depression, perceived stress, emotional distress and cognitive difficulties. Although this was a small-scale study, it demonstrates the range of symptoms experienced post-acute SARS-CoV-2. In addition, the similarities between this group and CFS suggests the need for further research into the mechanisms at play here, the need to identify those at risk of long-term symptoms and the development of possible interventions.

Keywords: post-acute SARS-CoV-2; fatigue-related symptoms; chronic fatigue syndrome; non-fatigued controls (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11662/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11662/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:18:p:11662-:d:916308

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().