The study included 128 participants (mean age 50 years; 54% female) who were recruited consecutively at a median of 10 weeks following clinical recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection. More than half reported persistent fatigue (52.3%; 67/128) at this point.
The researchers offered an outpatient appointment to anyone who had a COVID-19 positive swab test in their laboratory at St James Hospital. This included all admitted patients as well as any hospital staff (including cleaning staff, caterers, etc) since the service was also offered to staff that thought they had COVID-19 symptoms. The majority of those in the non-admitted group had a mild illness but had a swab test performed at St James's Hospital rather than at a community testing facility, as they were employed by St James's Hospital.
Of the patients assessed in this study,71/128 (55.5%) were admitted to hospital and 57/128 (44.5%) were not admitted. "Fatigue was found to occur independent of admission to hospital, affecting both groups equally," explains Dr. Townsend.
There was no association between COVID-19 severity (need for inpatient admission, supplemental oxygen or critical care) and fatigue following COVID-19. Additionally, there was no association between routine laboratory markers of inflammation and cell turnover (white blood cell counts or ratios, lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein) or pro-inflammatory molecules (IL-6 or sCD25) and fatigue post COVID-19. Female gender and those with a pre-existing diagnosis of depression/anxiety were over-represented in those with fatigue. Although women represented just over half of the patients in the study (54%), two-thirds of those with persistent fatigue (67%) were women. And while only 1 person of the 61 (1.6%) without fatigue had a history of anxiety or depression, this proportion was 13.4% (9/67) in those with persistent fatigue.
