Cardiopulmonary work up of patients with and without fatigue 6 months after COVID-19
Abstract The pathogenesis of long-Covid symptoms remains incompletely understood. Therefore, we aimed to determine cardiopulmonary limitations 6 months after surviving COVID-19 using pulmonary function tests, echocardiographic studies to the point of analysis of global-longitudinal-strain (GLS), whi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22876-9 |
| _version_ | 1811335355509506048 |
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| author | Kirsten Thiele Paul Balfanz Tobias Müller Bojan Hartmann Jens Spiesshoefer Julian Grebe Dirk Müller-Wieland Nikolaus Marx Michael Dreher Ayham Daher |
| author_facet | Kirsten Thiele Paul Balfanz Tobias Müller Bojan Hartmann Jens Spiesshoefer Julian Grebe Dirk Müller-Wieland Nikolaus Marx Michael Dreher Ayham Daher |
| author_sort | Kirsten Thiele |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The pathogenesis of long-Covid symptoms remains incompletely understood. Therefore, we aimed to determine cardiopulmonary limitations 6 months after surviving COVID-19 using pulmonary function tests, echocardiographic studies to the point of analysis of global-longitudinal-strain (GLS), which describes the cycling myocardium deformation and provides better data on left ventricular (LV) dysfunction than LV ejection fraction (LVEF), and validated questionnaires. Overall, 60 consecutive hospitalized patients were included (61 ± 2 years, 40% treated in the ICU). At follow-up (194 ± 3 days after discharge), fatigue was the most prevalent symptom (28%). Patients with fatigue were more symptomatic overall and characterized by worse quality of life (QoL) scores compared to patients without fatigue (all p < 0.05), mainly due to limited mobility and high symptom burden. While PFT variables and LVEF were normal in the vast majority of patients (LVEF = 52% (45–52%)), GLS was significantly reduced (− 15% (− 18 to − 14%)). However, GLS values were not different between patients with and without fatigue. In conclusion, fatigue was the most prevalent long-Covid symptom in our cohort, which was associated with worse QoL mainly due to limited mobility and the high burden of concomitant symptoms. Patients showed a subtle myocardial dysfunction 6 months after surviving COVID-19, but this did not relate to the presence of fatigue. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T17:23:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-23ed8dd78c8f4a33b013866aaa7b815d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T17:23:56Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-23ed8dd78c8f4a33b013866aaa7b815d2022-12-22T02:37:53ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222022-10-0112111010.1038/s41598-022-22876-9Cardiopulmonary work up of patients with and without fatigue 6 months after COVID-19Kirsten Thiele0Paul Balfanz1Tobias Müller2Bojan Hartmann3Jens Spiesshoefer4Julian Grebe5Dirk Müller-Wieland6Nikolaus Marx7Michael Dreher8Ayham Daher9Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital RWTHDepartment of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital RWTHDepartment of Pneumology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital RWTHDepartment of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital RWTHDepartment of Pneumology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital RWTHDepartment of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital RWTHDepartment of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital RWTHDepartment of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital RWTHDepartment of Pneumology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital RWTHDepartment of Pneumology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital RWTHAbstract The pathogenesis of long-Covid symptoms remains incompletely understood. Therefore, we aimed to determine cardiopulmonary limitations 6 months after surviving COVID-19 using pulmonary function tests, echocardiographic studies to the point of analysis of global-longitudinal-strain (GLS), which describes the cycling myocardium deformation and provides better data on left ventricular (LV) dysfunction than LV ejection fraction (LVEF), and validated questionnaires. Overall, 60 consecutive hospitalized patients were included (61 ± 2 years, 40% treated in the ICU). At follow-up (194 ± 3 days after discharge), fatigue was the most prevalent symptom (28%). Patients with fatigue were more symptomatic overall and characterized by worse quality of life (QoL) scores compared to patients without fatigue (all p < 0.05), mainly due to limited mobility and high symptom burden. While PFT variables and LVEF were normal in the vast majority of patients (LVEF = 52% (45–52%)), GLS was significantly reduced (− 15% (− 18 to − 14%)). However, GLS values were not different between patients with and without fatigue. In conclusion, fatigue was the most prevalent long-Covid symptom in our cohort, which was associated with worse QoL mainly due to limited mobility and the high burden of concomitant symptoms. Patients showed a subtle myocardial dysfunction 6 months after surviving COVID-19, but this did not relate to the presence of fatigue.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22876-9 |
| spellingShingle | Kirsten Thiele Paul Balfanz Tobias Müller Bojan Hartmann Jens Spiesshoefer Julian Grebe Dirk Müller-Wieland Nikolaus Marx Michael Dreher Ayham Daher Cardiopulmonary work up of patients with and without fatigue 6 months after COVID-19 Scientific Reports |
| title | Cardiopulmonary work up of patients with and without fatigue 6 months after COVID-19 |
| title_full | Cardiopulmonary work up of patients with and without fatigue 6 months after COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | Cardiopulmonary work up of patients with and without fatigue 6 months after COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cardiopulmonary work up of patients with and without fatigue 6 months after COVID-19 |
| title_short | Cardiopulmonary work up of patients with and without fatigue 6 months after COVID-19 |
| title_sort | cardiopulmonary work up of patients with and without fatigue 6 months after covid 19 |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22876-9 |
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