Severe, Persistent, Disruptive Fatigue Post-SARS-CoV-2 Disproportionately Affects Young Women

Figures & data

Table 1 Severe Fatigue (FACIT-F ≤27.9) and Symptom Reporting at Baseline and 6 Months

Baseline	Relative Reporting FACIT-F ≤27.9 vs >27.9	Chi-Squared (ꭓ2)	Odds Ratio (OR)	Confidence Interval (CI)
Headache	24.3% vs 4.8%	<0.001	6.36	1.97–20.5
Shortness of breath	32.4% vs 10.6%	0.002	4.06	1.60–10.03
Fatigue*	37.8% vs 14.4%	0.002	3.61	1.53–8.64
Memory difficulties	29.7% vs 15.4%	0.057	2.33	0.96–5.63
Mood disturbances	16.2% vs 7.7%	0.136	2.32	0.75–7.21
Musculoskeletal symptoms	13.5% vs 9.6%	0.509	1.47	0.47–4.62
General neurological symptoms	18.9% vs 14.4%	0.517	1.38	0.52–3.72
6 Months	Relative Reporting FACIT-F ≤27.9 vs >27.9	Chi-Squared (ꭓ2)	Odds Ratio (OR)	Confidence Interval (CI)
Shortness of breath	27.8% vs 9.5%	0.046	3.65	0.97–13.80
Mood disturbances	16.7% vs 4.8%	0.089	4.00	0.73–21.80
General neurological symptoms	22.2% vs 11.1%	0.225	2.29	0.59–8.91
Headaches	11.1% vs 4.8%	0.324	2.5	0.35–16.30
Fatigue*	16.7% vs 9.5%	0.395	1.90	0.43–8.50
Rash	11.1% vs 6.3%	0.496	1.84	0.31–11.40
Memory difficulties	16.7% vs 15.9%	0.936	1.06	0.26–4.35

Note: *Fatigue as symptom reported.

Abbreviations: FACIT-F, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue; x², chi-squared; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

Figure 1 Symptom Reporting Categorization.

Table 2 Severe/Non-Severe Fatigue at Baseline by Mann–Whitney U and Rank Biserial Correlation

	Statistic	p-value	Mean Difference	Effect Size
FACIT-F Physical Well-being (PWB)	481	<.001	7.000	0.753
FACIT-F Social Well-being (SWB)	1124	<.001	4.500	0.421
FACIT-F Emotional Well-Being (EWB)	576	<.001	6.000	0.703
FACIT-F Functional Well-Being (FWB)	788	<.001	7.000	0.594
FACIT-F Fatigue Scale (FS)	0	<.001	23.000	1.000
PHQ9	364	<.001	−9.000	0.813
PHQ Severe Score	478	<.001	−2.000	0.747
Post COVID Cognition	668	<.001	1.125	0.653
ESAS Physical	179	<.001	−2.333	0.757
ESAS Emotional	321	<.001	−2.500	0.564
ESAS Total	160	<.001	−2.500	0.782
GAD7 Anxiety	263	<.001	−5.000	0.643
Stigma Questionnaire	410	0.007	−3.000	0.398
Distress Thermometer	277	<.001	−3.000	0.624
EQ5D Overall Health Rating	865	<.001	15.000	0.524
EQ5D Index Score	693	<.001	0.165	0.616

Abbreviations: FACIT-F, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue; PWB, physical well-being; SWB, Social Well-being; EWB, Emotional Well-being; FS, Fatigue Scale; PHQ9, Patient Health Questionnaire-9; COVID, SARS-CoV-2; ESAS, Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale; GAD7, General Anxiety Disorder-7; EQ-5D, EuroQOL-5D health status measure.

Figure 2 Percentage of patients with severe fatigue among all those completing the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy - Fatigue (FACIT-F).

Figure 3 Percentage of participants with severe fatigue at baseline by self-reported symptoms.

Table 3 Frequencies of 6-Month Fatigue Severity Symptom Reporting Compared to FACIT-F Fatigue Severity Scores

Fatigue Severity	FACIT-F Score Group	Counts	% of Total
None/resolved	Not severely fatigued	57	70.4%
	Severely fatigued	15	18.5%
Mild-better*	Not severely fatigued	2	2.5%
	Severely fatigued	0	0.0%
Mild-worse*	Not severely fatigued	2	2.5%
	Severely fatigued	0	0.0%
Moderate-better*	Not severely fatigued	0	0.0%
	Severely fatigued	0	0.0%
Moderate	Not severely fatigued	0	0.0%
	Severely fatigued	2	2.5%
Moderate-worse*	Not severely fatigued	0	0.0%
	Severely fatigued	0	0.0%
Severe-better*	Not severely fatigued	1	1.2%
	Severely fatigued	0	0.0%
Severe	Not severely fatigued	1	1.2%
	Severely fatigued	1	1.2%
Severe-worse*	Not severely fatigued	0	0.0%
	Severely fatigued	0	0.0%

Note: *Better and Worse are relative to Baseline.

Abbreviations: FACIT-F, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue; %, percent.

Figure 4 6-month symptoms frequency in the severely fatigued per Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy - Fatigue (FACIT-F).