The Lingering Fatigue of COVID-19

TOPLINE:

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was linked to an overall 3% increase in self-reported fatigue and a twofold increase in malaise after minimal exertion up to 18 months after infection. Hospitalized patients experienced a 23% increase in fatigue scores.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a cohort study between 2021 and 2023 involving 50,115 Danish residents aged 15 years or older, half of whom had tested positive for COVID-19.
• Participants answered questions on their current and previous 6 months of fatigue and other symptoms based on a scale and at least one follow-up questionnaire between 2 and 18 months after testing.
• Participants were excluded if they reported SARS-CoV-2 infection between the index test date and the last follow-up questionnaire.
• Roughly half of each group (positive or negative for SARS-CoV-2) were between the ages of 50 and 69 years.

TAKEAWAY:

• Test-positive participants had two times higher odds of experiencing malaise following minimal exertion (odds ratio [OR], 2.04; 95% CI, 1.81-2.30) than those who had tested negative.
• People who had been hospitalized with acute SARS-CoV-2 had a 23% increase in their fatigue (score ratio, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.20-1.26) compared with people who tested negative 2-18 months after testing.
• Test-positive participants had almost twice the odds (OR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.64-2.26) of severe fatigue.
• People with preexisting psychiatric conditions were not at a significantly higher risk for fatigue following infection.

IN PRACTICE:

“The burden of post-COVID-19 condition fatigue was highest among patients with more severe cases of infection and was long-lasting, suggesting that patients with severe acute infection may benefit from clinical follow-up for fatigue,” study authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Elisabeth O’Regan, MMedSc, of the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was published online on October 7 in JAMA Network Open.

LIMITATIONS:

The study’s estimates could be influenced by undetected SARS-CoV-2 infections in the negative group or unknown reinfections in the positive cohort. The absence of pre-SARS-CoV-2 exposure malaise scores limits the specificity of the findings. The high prevalence of postexertional malaise indication may be due to the lack of second-stage questions in the survey.

DISCLOSURES:

One author reported receiving grants from Novo Nordisk Foundation, Lundbeck Foundation, and Independent Research Fund Denmark outside the submitted work and being a scientific board member for the Vaccine Monitoring Collaboration for Europe. No other disclosures were reported. The study was conducted as part of the governmental institution Statens Serum Institut’s advisory tasks for the Danish Ministry of Health.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.