Fatigue is the most common persistent symptom of covid-19 in different variants of the virus

A research group led by the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), and in which the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) participates, compared the symptom at baseline and six months after three groups of patients infected with different variants (Wuhan, alpha and delta) of SARS-CoV-2 that required hospitalization.

One of the main conclusions of the study, recently published in the journal pathogensthis is the fatigue it is a symptom that affects patients in a similar proportion, regardless of the version of the virus.

“By remaining constant across variants, it could be one of the main clinical criteria for defining this disease,” he says. Cesar Fernandez de las Penas, professor at the Department of Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine at URJC. However, the sheer number of symptoms “complicates establishing a single diagnostic criterion,” he adds.

According to the study, patients infected with the Wuhan variant had, on average, more symptoms in the acute phase from covid-19 than in the rest of the versions, being fever, dyspnea –breathing difficulty– and gastrointestinal symptoms were the most common, while with the delta variant there were more headache and anosmia -loss of smell-.

According to Fernández de las Peñas, “the presence of anosmia in the delta variant determines that one should not speak of a the flu of SARS-CoV-2. These differences were observed in the clinic over the different waves, but we were the first to systematically compare them” in a scientific study, he highlights.

Phone follow-up six months later

To conduct the study, the researchers reviewed data from 200 patients during their hospitalization. Six months after the acute episode, telephone interviews were carried out to learn about the situation and symptoms of these people after admission.

It seems that the incidence of persistent covid may be lower over time and in the presence of new variants such as omicron, probably conditioned by vaccination. But it is still a serious problem given the large number of infections that occur.

Juan Torres Macho, MCU

Fatigue had similar persistence in all three patient groups, although there were multiple symptoms with all virus variants. Those infected with the Wuhan variant had a greater number of persistent symptoms (3 versus 2 for the rest of the variants), with dyspnea being the most frequent. Delta patients reported more alopecia.

“It seems that the incidence of persistent covid may be lower over time and in the presence of new variants such as omicron, probably conditioned by vaccination. But it’s still a serious problem given the large number of infections that occur.” Juan Torres Maleresearcher at the UCM Department of Medicine and co-author of the work.