A new study on coronavirus symptoms and after-effects published in the preprint journal Medrxiv.org revealed that fatigue could be persistent in more than half of the patients who had recuperated from the coronavirus.

Researchers maintained that the symptom of fatigue can persist regardless of the severity of the cases.

For the study, researchers used a commonly-used scale to calculate fatigue in recovered patients. The scale is called the Chalder Fatigue Score (CFQ-11).

Study author Liam Townsend from St James’ Hospital in Ireland said in a statement: “While the presenting features of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been well-characterised, the medium and long-term consequences of infection remain unexplored.”

Researchers examined the severity of the disease in 128 participants for 10 weeks. This includes the need for admission, and critical/intensive care, pre-existing conditions, and mental health.

They also looked at various components required for immune activation (white cell counts, C-reactive protein, Interleukin-6, and sCD25).

Researchers maintained in their study that over half of patients reported persistent fatigue (52.3 per cent; 67/128) at this point.

Of the patients assessed in this study, 71/128 (55.5 per cent) were admitted to the hospital and 57/128 (44.5 per cent) were not.

“Fatigue was found to occur independent of admission to hospital, affecting both groups equally,” Townsend explained.

Researchers also found that there was no association between Covid-19 severity and fatigue following Covid-19.

Researchers also noted that their analysis showed female gender and those with a pre-existing diagnosis of depression/anxiety were over-represented in those with fatigue.

“Our findings demonstrated a significant burden of post-viral fatigue in individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection after the acute phase of Covid-19 illness,” the study authors wrote.

 

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