People who have had COVID-19 have a significantly higher risk of suffering chronic fatigue than those who haven’t had the disease, a new study published Wednesday shows.
“Our data indicate that COVID-19 is associated with a significant increase in new fatigue diagnoses,” according to the study, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“Physicians should be aware that fatigue might occur or be newly recognized [more than a year] after acute COVID-19,” the report said.
Specifically, the study looked at electronic health records of more than 4,500 patients in Washington state who had COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 and compared them to patients who hadn’t had COVID. The study found the risk for chronic fatigue in those who had COVID was about four times the risk compared to people who hadn’t contracted COVID.