Long Covid impact on fatigue and quality of life worse than some cancers

Fatigue is the symptom that most significantly impacts the daily lives of long Covid patients, and can affect quality of life more than some cancers, finds a new study led by researchers at UCL and the University of Exeter. The research, examines the impact of long Covid on the lives of over 3,750 patients who were referred to a long Covid clinic and used a digital app as part of their NHS treatment for the condition.

Patients were asked to complete questionnaires on the app about how long Covid was affecting them – considering the impact of long Covid on their day-to-day activities, levels of fatigue, depression, anxiety, breathlessness, brain fog, and their quality of life.

The researchers found that many long Covid patients were seriously ill and on average had fatigue scores worse or similar to people with cancer-related anaemia or severe kidney disease. Their health-related quality of life scores were also lower than those of people with advanced metastatic cancers, like stage IV lung cancer.

Overall, the team found that the impact of long Covid on the daily activities of patients was worse than that of stroke patients and was comparable to that of patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Reference:

Sarah Walker, Henry Goodfellow, Patra Pookarnjanamorakot, Elizabeth Murray, Julia Bindman, Ann Blandford, Katherine Bradbury, Belinda Cooper, Fiona L Hamilton, John R Hurst, Hannah Hylton, Stuart Linke, Paul E Pfeffer, Department of Respiratory Medicine, William Ricketts, Chris Robson, Fiona A Stevenson, David Sunkersing, Jiunn Wang, Manuel Gomes, William Henley. The impact of fatigue as the primary determinant of functional limitations amongst patients with Post-COVID syndrome: a cross-sectional observational study, BMJ Open doi 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069217