Post-COVID-19 Fatigue: Potential Contributing Factors

• Published in: Brain sciences Vol. 10; no. 12; p. 1012
• Main Authors: Rudroff, Thorsten, Fietsam, Alexandra C, Deters, Justin R, Bryant, Andrew D, Kamholz, John
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 19-12-2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Anxiety; Cognitive ability; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Disease; Dopamine; Fatigue; Medical research; Mental performance; Metabolism; Mortality; Musculoskeletal system; Neurological disorders; Older people; Pandemics; recovery; Serotonin; Stress; Viral infections; Viruses; COVID-19; fatigue; recovery
• ISSN: 2076-3425; 2076-3425
• DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10121012

Much of the spotlight for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is on the acute symptoms and recovery. However, many recovered patients face persistent physical, cognitive, and psychological symptoms well past the acute phase. Of these symptoms, fatigue is one of the most persistent and debilitating. In this "perspective article," we define fatigue as
and propose a model to explain potential factors contributing to post-COVID-19 fatigue. According to our model, fatigue is dependent on conditional and physiological factors. Conditional dependency comprises the task, environment, and physical and mental capacity of individuals, while physiological factors include central, psychological, and peripheral aspects. This model provides a framework for clinicians and researchers. However, future research is needed to validate our proposed model and elucidate all mechanisms of fatigue due to COVID-19.