Fatigue, one of the symptoms of Covid-19, persists for up to several months after “clinical recovery”, according to an Irish study. A factor that particularly affects women and people prone to anxiety and depression.
Fatigue, a persistent factor of Covid-19 according to an Irish study
Fatigue is one of the symptoms of the virus, affecting 1 in 2 patients. An Irish study was conducted by Dr Liam Townsend and his colleagues at St James’s Hospital and the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (Dublin, Ireland). It will be presented in detail during the Covid-19 conference at the Congress of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases from September 23 to 25. This study reveals that more than half of this Irish hospital, subjected to the study, suffered from chronic fatigue. These would be both patients and healthcare workers, regardless of the severity of the disease: “Our results show a significant burden of post-viral fatigue in people who have had a SARS-CoV-2 infection after the phase. acute disease, ”he emphasizes.
A quantified study with women more affected by fatigue
Of 128 participants with an average age of 50 years, 52% experienced persistent fatigue 10 weeks after recovery, whether they were hospitalized (71 of them) or had a mild form of the disease. (57). “Fatigue occurred regardless of admission to hospital, affecting both groups equally,” says Dr Townsend. Women, representing 54% of participants, are more affected by chronic fatigue (67%). Also affected are people prone to anxiety and depression.
A development still uncertain
“We are seeing more and more evidence of ‘Covid long’, and fatigue is one of the most frequently reported side effects,” reports Dr Michael Head of the University of Southampton. “The emerging scale of ‘Covid long “is why it is important to reduce community transmission, even among younger groups of people who are not immediately seriously ill,” he says. For the authors of the study, it is necessary to do more research in order to discover the long-term impact of the coronavirus: “The medium and long-term consequences of the infection remain unexplored” explains the infectious disease specialist Townsend.
