Fatigue, sleepiness and sleep quality are SARS-CoV-2 variant independent in patients with long COVID symptoms 2023 Percze et al

Acute infections with SARS-CoV-2 variants of concerns (VOCs) differ in clinical presentation. Discrepancies in their long-term sequelae, commonly referred to as long COVID, however, remain to be explored. We retrospectively analyzed data of 287 patients presented at the post-COVID care of the Pulmonology Department, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary, and infected with SARS-CoV-2 during a period of 3 major epidemic waves in Hungary (February–July 2021, VOC: B.1.1.7, Alpha, N = 135; August–December 2021, VOC: B.1.617.2, Delta, N = 89; and January–June 2022, VOC: B.1.1.529, Omicron; N = 63), > 4 weeks after acute COVID-19. Overall, the ratio of long COVID symptomatic (LC) and asymptomatic (NS) patients was 2:1.

Self-reported questionnaires on fatigue (Fatigue Severity Scale, FSS), sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale, ESS) and sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI) showed higher scores for LC (4.79 ± 0.12, 7.45 ± 0.33 and 7.46 ± 0.27, respectively) than NS patients (2.85 ± 0.16, 5.23 ± 0.32 and 4.26 ± 0.29, respectively; p < 0.05 for all vs. LC). By comparing data of the three waves, mean FSS and PSQI scores of LC patients, but not ESS scores, exceeded the normal range in all, with no significant inter-wave differences. Considering FSS ≥ 4 and PSQI > 5 cutoff values, LC patients commonly exhibited problematic fatigue (≥ 70%) and poor sleep quality (> 60%) in all three waves. Comparative analysis of PSQI component scores of LC patients identified no significant differences between the three waves.

Our findings highlight the importance of concerted efforts to manage both fatigue and sleep disturbances in long COVID patient care. This multifaceted approach should be followed in all cases infected with either VOCs of SARS-CoV-2.

Open access, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10787-023-01190-4

 

"The pathogenesis of fatigue can involve a variety of inflammatory, neurologic, metabolic, peripheral muscle, psychological and social factors in long COVID. In addition, certain other acute infections are also associated with post-acute infection syndromes, similar to the unexplained chronic disability in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (Kedor et al. 2022), and may involve common underlying mechanisms."

@Wyva , another paper from Hungarian authors.

 

Yes, thanks! I can see that this comes from the Department of Pulmonology at Semmelweis University, of which Veronika Müller is the director of. She was also briefly discussed here:

Review article: What is really ‘Long COVID’?, 2023, Szabo et al

She seems to be quite interested in the topic and ME/CFS finally gets a mention here.