Persistent Poor Health Post-COVID-19 Is Not Associated with Respiratory Complications or Initial Disease Severity, 2021, Townsend et al

Irish study. Neither the paper nor the article mentions "chronic fatigue syndrome" though a measure of fatigue is one of the focuses of the (open access) paper

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https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1513/AnnalsATS.202009-1175OC

 

Wow. There is now a case definition for fatigue???

 

I think two factors contribute to the reluctance of classifying it as CFS. First, many guidelines require a minimum period after symptom onset (typically 6 months) until a diagnosis can be made. Second, some medical circles have not even accepted CFS as a diagnosis and still consider it a psychiatric disease. If they associated COVID-19 with a psychiatric disease, the whole idea of the psyche as causality might become unfounded. For medical scientists who try to fit into the overall consensus, it might appear wise to avoid topics that are debated controversially. This avoids unnecessary discussions with people who are still trying to defend this psychiatric theory. It isn't even the main point of this study.

Regardless, at some point, they will all have to admit that COVID-19 causes chronic fatigue and psychiatric issues. If these psychiatric issues are caused by a virus, how many others are as well? Is it the right way to fixate on the treatment of the psyche as a causal factor then?

 

"Fatigue was assessed using the validated Chalder Fatigue Scale (CFQ-11) (35, 36). Participants are asked to answer these questions with reference to the past month in comparison to their pre-COVID-19 baseline, with responses measured on a Likert scale (0-3). From this a global score can be constructed out of a total of 33. This method is validated and closely resembles other fatigue questionnaires (37-40)"

 

What the hell.