Prevalence and correlates of chronic fatigue syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder after the outbreak of the COVID-19

• Published in: Journal of neurovirology Vol. 27; no. 1; pp. 154 - 159
• Main Authors: Simani, Leila, Ramezani, Mahtab, Darazam, Ilad Alavi, Sagharichi, Mastooreh, Aalipour, Mohammad Amin, Ghorbani, Fatemeh, Pakdaman, Hossein
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.02.2021
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cough - complications; Cough - drug therapy; Cough - psychology; Cough - virology; COVID-19 - complications; COVID-19 - drug therapy; COVID-19 - psychology; COVID-19 - virology; Dementia - complications; Dementia - drug therapy; Dementia - psychology; Dementia - virology; Drug Combinations; Dyspnea - complications; Dyspnea - drug therapy; Dyspnea - psychology; Dyspnea - virology; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic - complications; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic - drug therapy; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic - psychology; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic - virology; Female; Fever - complications; Fever - drug therapy; Fever - psychology; Fever - virology; Humans; Hydroxychloroquine - therapeutic use; Immunology; Infectious Diseases; Lopinavir - therapeutic use; Male; Middle Aged; Neurology; Neurosciences; Oseltamivir - therapeutic use; Research Design; Ritonavir - therapeutic use; SARS-CoV-2 - drug effects; SARS-CoV-2 - pathogenicity; Severity of Illness Index; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - complications; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - drug therapy; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - virology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Survivors - psychology; Virology; COVID-19; Post-COVID morbidities; Chronic fatigue syndrome / myalgic encephalomyelitis; Post-traumatic stress disorder
• ISSN: 1355-0284; 1538-2443
• DOI: 10.1007/s13365-021-00949-1

As the SARS-COV-2 becomes a global pandemic, many researchers have a concern about the long COVID-19 complications. Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a persistent, debilitating, and unexplained fatigue disorder. We investigated psychological morbidities such as CFS and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among survivors of COVID-19 over 6 months. All COVID-19 survivors from the university-affiliated hospital of Tehran, Iran, were assessed 6 months after infection onset by a previously validated questionnaire based on the Fukuda guidelines for CFS/EM and DSM-5 Checklist for PTSD (The Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 or PCL-5) to determine the presence of stress disorder and chronic fatigue problems. A total of 120 patients were enrolled. The prevalence rate of fatigue symptoms was 17.5%. Twelve (10%) screened positive for chronic idiopathic fatigue (CIF), 6 (5%) for CFS-like with insufficient fatigue syndrome (CFSWIFS), and 3 (2.5%) for CFS. The mean total scores in PCL-5 were 9.27 ± 10.76 (range:0–44), and the prevalence rate of PTSD was 5.8%. There was no significant association after adjusting between CFS and PTSD, gender, comorbidities, and chloroquine phosphate administration. The obtained data revealed the prevalence of CFS among patients with COVID-19, which is almost similar to CFS prevalence in the general population. Moreover, PTSD in patients with COVID-19 is not associated with the increased risk of CFS. Our study suggested that medical institutions should pay attention to the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak.