COVID patients are 4.3 times more likely to develop chronic fatigue

A new study COVID-19 patients are at least four times more likely to develop chronic fatigue than someone who has not had the virus.

Between February 2020 and February 2021, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers looked at more than 4,500 patients with confirmed COVID-19 electronic health records from the University of Washington. These patients were followed for over 11 months and their health data was compared with the data of more than 9,000 non-COVID-19 patients with similar characteristics.

It was noted fatigue developed in 9% of the COVID patients. The rate of new cases of fatigue was 10.2 per 100 person-years and the rate of new cases of chronic fatigue was 1.8 per 100 person-years among COVID patients.

Fatigue following COVID-19 infection was more common among women, older people and those who had other medical conditions including diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a history of mood disorders.

There was no strong evidence of racial or ethnic differences when it came to developing fatigue after COVID-19 except a slightly lower incidence among Black patients, results also showed.

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