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. 2023 May 19;7(4):337-348.
doi: 10.1016/j.mayocpiqo.2023.05.002. Online ahead of print.

Psychophysiologic Symptom Relief Therapy (PSRT) for Post-acute Sequelae of COVID-19

Michael Donnino  1   2 , Patricia Howard  1 , Shivani Mehta  1   3 , Jeremy Silverman  1 , Maria J Cabrera  1 , Jolin B Yamin  1 , Lakshman Balaji  1 , Katherine M Berg  2 , Stanley Heydrick  1   2 , Robert Edwards  4 , Anne V Grossestreuer  1
Affiliations

Psychophysiologic Symptom Relief Therapy (PSRT) for Post-acute Sequelae of COVID-19

Michael Donnino et al. Mayo Clin Proc Innov Qual Outcomes. .

Abstract

Objective: To determine if psychophysiologic symptom relief therapy (PSRT) will reduce symptom burden in patients suffering from post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) who had mild/moderate acute COVID-19 disease without objective evidence of organ injury.

Patients and methods: Twenty-three adults under the age of 60 with PASC for at least 12 weeks following COVID-19 infection were enrolled in an interventional cohort study conducted via virtual platform between May 18, 2021 and August 7, 2022. Participants received PSRT during a 13 week (approximately 44 hour) course. Participants were administered validated questionnaires at baseline and at 4, 8, and 13 weeks. The primary outcome was change in somatic symptoms from baseline, measured using the Somatic Symptom Scale-8 (SSS-8), at 13 weeks.

Results: The median duration of symptoms prior to joining the study was 267 days (IQR: 144, 460). The mean SSS-8 score of the cohort decreased from baseline by 8.5 (95% CI: 5.7-11.4), 9.4 (95% CI: 6.9-11.9), and 10.9 (95% CI: 8.3-13.5) at 4, 8, and 13 weeks respectively (all p<.001). Participants also experienced statistically significant improvements across other secondary outcomes including changes in dyspnea, fatigue, and pain (all p<.001).

Conclusion: PSRT may effectively decrease symptom burden in patients suffering from PASC without evidence of organ injury. The study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04854772).

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Conflict of interest statement

This work has been supported by Adam D’Angelo and Jim O’Shaughnessy. The authors report no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Participant flow through the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percent of participants with high/very high SSS-8 symptoms. Scoring of the SSS-8 is categorized as follows: no to minimal (0-3 points), low (4-7 points), medium (8-11 points), high (12-15 points), and very high (16-32 points) somatic symptom burden. SSS-8, Somatic Symptom Scale-8.
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References

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