More than half of COVID-19 survivors experienced severe fatigue after recovery, regardless of the severity of the illness, according to a new study published in the journal medRxiv. Scientists are pushing for more research on the medium and long-term effects of the coronavirus.
The study involved 128 patients under the supervision of St James’s Hospital in Ireland. Scientists wanted to find out how people with varying degrees of severity of the disease tolerate the effects of COVID-19 weeks after recovery. The results of the study showed that 52 percent of the participants felt tired within ten weeks of the “clinical recovery.” The result did not depend on the state of health during the illness. The scientists noted that it didn’t matter if the person was hospitalized or not.
The study also showed that women most often felt persistent fatigue – among all patients with fatigue, they were 67 percent. People who previously suffered from depression also had increased fatigue.
The study authors argue that more work is needed to assess the long-term impact of COVID-19 on patients.
Coronavirus is not the first infectious disease to have such consequences. Pneumonia and glandular fever are often accompanied by “chronic fatigue syndrome” – a disease associated with overwork and loss of strength, which does not go away even after a long rest.
