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Improvement of Long COVID symptoms over one year.
- Source :
-
Frontiers in medicine [Front Med (Lausanne)] 2023 Jan 09; Vol. 9, pp. 1065620. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jan 09 (Print Publication: 2022). - Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- Importance: Early and accurate diagnosis and treatment of Long COVID, clinically known as post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), may mitigate progression to chronic diseases such as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Our objective was to determine the utility of the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire (DSQ) to assess the frequency and severity of common symptoms of ME/CFS, to diagnose and monitor symptoms in patients with PASC.<br />Methods: This prospective, observational cohort study enrolled 185 people that included 34 patients with PASC that had positive COVID-19 test and persistent symptoms of >3 months and 151 patients diagnosed with ME/CFS. PASC patients were followed over 1 year and responded to the DSQ at baseline and 12 months. ME/CFS patients responded to the DSQ at baseline and 1 year later. Changes in symptoms over time were analyzed using a fixed-effects model to compute difference-in-differences estimates between baseline and 1-year follow-up assessments.<br />Participants: Patients were defined as having PASC if they had a previous positive COVID-19 test, were experiencing symptoms of fatigue, post-exertional malaise, or other unwellness for at least 3 months, were not hospitalized for COVID-19, had no documented major medical or psychiatric diseases prior to COVID-19, and had no other active and untreated disease processes that could explain their symptoms. PASC patients were recruited in 2021. ME/CFS patients were recruited in 2017.<br />Results: At baseline, patients with PASC had similar symptom severity and frequency as patients with ME/CFS and satisfied ME/CFS diagnostic criteria. ME/CFS patients experienced significantly more severe unrefreshing sleep and flu-like symptoms. Five symptoms improved significantly over the course of 1 year for PASC patients including fatigue, post-exertional malaise, brain fog, irritable bowel symptoms and feeling unsteady. In contrast, there were no significant symptom improvements for ME/CFS patients.<br />Conclusion and Relevance: There were considerable similarities between patients with PASC and ME/CFS at baseline. However, symptoms improved for PASC patients over the course of a year but not for ME/CFS patients. PASC patients with significant symptom improvement no longer met ME/CFS clinical diagnostic criteria. These findings indicate that the DSQ can be used to reliably assess and monitor PASC symptoms.<br />Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.<br /> (Copyright © 2023 Oliveira, Jason, Unutmaz, Bateman and Vernon.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2296-858X
- Volume :
- 9
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Frontiers in medicine
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 36698810
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.1065620