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. 2023 Oct 23;18(10):e0292928.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292928. eCollection 2023.

Post-COVID-19 syndrome: Physical capacity, fatigue and quality of life

Sebastian Beyer  1 , Sven Haufe  1 , Meike Dirks  2 , Michèle Scharbau  3 , Viktoria Lampe  1 , Alexandra Dopfer-Jablonka  4 , Uwe Tegtbur  1 , Isabell Pink  3 , Nora Drick  3 , Arno Kerling  1
Affiliations

Post-COVID-19 syndrome: Physical capacity, fatigue and quality of life

Sebastian Beyer et al. PLoS One. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Purpose: Post-Covid-19 syndrome is defined as the persistence of symptoms beyond 3 months after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The most common symptoms include reduced exercise tolerance and capacity, fatigue, neurocognitive problems, muscle pain and dyspnea. The aim of our work was to investigate exercise capacity and markers of subjective wellbeing and their independent relation to post-COVID-19 syndrome.

Patients and methods: We examined a total of 69 patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome (23 male/46 female; age 46±12 years; BMI 28.9±6.6 kg/m2) with fatigue and a score ≥22 in the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS). We assessed exercise capacity on a cycle ergometer, a 6-minute walk test, the extent of fatigue (FAS), markers of health-related quality of life (SF-36 questionnaire) and mental health (HADS).

Results: On average the Fatigue Assessment Scale was 35.0±7.4 points. Compared with normative values the VO2max/kg was reduced by 8.6±5.8 ml/min/kg (27.7%), the 6MWT by 71±96 m (11.9%), the health-related quality of life physical component score by 15.0±9.0 points (29.9%) and the mental component score by 10.6±12.8 points (20.6%). Subdivided into mild fatigue (FAS score 22-34) and severe fatigue (FAS score ≥35), patients with severe fatigue showed a significant reduction of the 6-minute walk test by 64±165 m (p<0.01) and the health-related quality of life physical component score by 5.8±17.2 points (p = 0.01). In multiple regression analysis age (β = -0.24, p = 0.02), sex (β = 0.22, p = 0.03), mental (β = -0.51, p<0.01) and physical (β = -0.44, p<0.01) health-related quality of life and by trend the 6-minute walk test (β = -0.22, p = 0.07) were associated with the FAS.

Conclusion: Patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome show reduced maximal and submaximal physical performance as well as limitations in quality of life, particularly pronounced in the physical components. These results are essentially influenced by the severity of fatigue and implicating the need for targeted treatments.

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Conflict of interest statement

NO authors have competing interest.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Exercise capacity (A: VO2max; B: 6MWT) and pulmonary capacity (C: FEV1; D: FVCex) in relation to the norm values.
Data are individual values with mean ± SD.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Subscales of the HrQoL questionnaire for men and women compared to the norm values.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Exercise capacity (A: VO2max; B: 6MWT) and HrQoL (C: Physical component score; D: Mental component score) divided into mild and severe fatigue based on FAS score.
The framed p-values are given for differences between mild and severe fatigue as analyzed by Student t test for unpaired samples. Data are mean ± SD.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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