Andy
Retired committee member
Highlights
ABSTRACT
Objective
Chronic mental and physical fatigue and post-exertional malaise are the more debilitating symptoms of long COVID-19. The study objective was to explore factors contributing to exercise intolerance in long COVID-19 to guide development of new therapies. Exercise capacity data of patients referred for a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) and included in a COVID-19 Survivorship Registry at one urban health center were retrospectively analyzed. Results:
Most subjects did not meet normative criteria for a maximal test, consistent with suboptimal effort and early exercise termination. Mean O2 pulse peak % predicted (of 79 ± 12.9) was reduced, supporting impaired energy metabolism as a mechanism of exercise intolerance in long COVID, n=59. We further identified blunted rise in heart rate peak during maximal CPET. Our preliminary analyses support therapies that optimize bioenergetics and improve oxygen utilization for treating long COVID-19.
Open access, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1569904823000502
- Ours is one of the first CPET studies to highlight reduced O2 pulse peak % predicted (impaired oxygen extraction) as a mechanism of chronic fatigue and exercise intolerance in long COVID.
- Our study identified chronotropic intolerance as a potential biomarker in long COVID.
- We hypothesized that impaired O2 extraction as a mechanism contributed to both mental and peripheral muscle fatigue and early exercise termination in our sample of participants with long COVID.
- Based on our findings, we recommend low-intensity, sub-symptom aerobic exercise to treat long COVID.
ABSTRACT
Objective
Chronic mental and physical fatigue and post-exertional malaise are the more debilitating symptoms of long COVID-19. The study objective was to explore factors contributing to exercise intolerance in long COVID-19 to guide development of new therapies. Exercise capacity data of patients referred for a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) and included in a COVID-19 Survivorship Registry at one urban health center were retrospectively analyzed. Results:
Most subjects did not meet normative criteria for a maximal test, consistent with suboptimal effort and early exercise termination. Mean O2 pulse peak % predicted (of 79 ± 12.9) was reduced, supporting impaired energy metabolism as a mechanism of exercise intolerance in long COVID, n=59. We further identified blunted rise in heart rate peak during maximal CPET. Our preliminary analyses support therapies that optimize bioenergetics and improve oxygen utilization for treating long COVID-19.
Open access, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1569904823000502