New research shows that COVID-19 survivors, especially older adults and non-hospitalized patients, are at an increased risk for chronic fatigue syndrome—underscoring the need for comprehensive care for vulnerable populations. Study: Risk of chronic fatigue syndrome after COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study of 3227281 patients . Image Credit: DimaBerlin / Shutterstock In a recent study published in the Journal of Infection and Public Health , researchers carried out a retrospective cohort study comprising 3,227,281 pairs of patients with and without COVID-19 from a larger dataset of over 115 million patients to investigate the associations between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infections and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) risk, particularly in the presence of comorbidities.
Non-hospitalized patients showed the highest risk of developing chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) compared to those who were hospitalized, challenging previous assumptions about severity-related outcomes. Cox proportional hazard models revealed that patients with prior SARS‐CoV‐2 infections were at increased risk of contracting CFS (HR = 1.59), with adults above the age of 65, Asians (HR = 1.
75), females, and those with comorbidities including diabetes, obesity, hypertensive disease, and hyperlipidemia being identified as the highest risk populations. The omicron variant was associated with slightly higher CFS risk (HR = 1.40) than older SARS‐CoV‐2 strains (alpha.