ArticleBrain communications2023
Transcranial direct current stimulation for post-COVID fatigue: a randomized, double-blind, controlled pilot study.
Article in Brain communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Research evidence on the management of the cognitive impairment component of the post-COVID condition: a qualitative systematic review.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2024Pooled it
- Modulating subjective and objective cognitive state fatigue in long COVID with repetitive anodal tDCS: results from a double-blinded randomized controlled trial.BMC neuroscience · 2026Trial
- Transcranial direct current stimulation and cognitive training in the treatment of cognitive deficit in schizophrenia: a randomized controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Trial
- A randomized comparative feasibility study of neuromodulation and cognitive training for post-COVID fatigue.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in the treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms of long COVID.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Corrigendum to 'Effects of therapeutic interventions on long COVID: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials'.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- Transcranial stimulation as a possible therapeutic proposal in long COVID.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2026Review
- Systematic Review of Randomized Clinical Trials for the Treatment of Long COVID Syndrome.Journal of community hospital internal medicine perspectives · 2026Article
- COVID-19-associated neurological and psychological manifestations.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2025Review
- Fatigue: a common but poorly understood symptom in neurological and non-neurological diseases.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2025Review
- Effects of therapeutic interventions on long COVID: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Cognitive and Psychological Symptoms in Post-COVID-19 Condition: A Systematic Review of Structural and Functional Neuroimaging, Neurophysiology, and Intervention Studies.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translation · 2025Review
- Interventions for Long COVID: A Narrative Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Review
- Two-year impact of COVID-19: Longitudinal MRI brain changes and neuropsychiatric trajectories.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025Article
- Defining and measuring long COVID fatigue: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Review
- Cognitive profile in multiple sclerosis and post-COVID condition: a comparative study using a unified taxonomy.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Post-COVID dysautonomias: what we know and (mainly) what we don't know.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Fatigue is one of the most frequent and disabling symptoms of the post-COVID syndrome. In this study, we aimed to assess the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on fatigue severity in a group of patients with post-COVID syndrome and chronic fatigue. We conducted a double-blind, parallel-group, sham-controlled study to evaluate the short-term effects of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (2 mA, 20 min/day) on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The modified fatigue impact scale score was used as the primary endpoint. Secondary endpoints included cognition (Stroop test), depressive symptoms (Beck depression inventory) and quality of life (EuroQol-5D). Patients received eight sessions of transcranial direct current stimulation and were evaluated at baseline, immediately after the last session, and one month later. Forty-seven patients were enrolled (23 in the active treatment group and 24 in the sham treatment group); the mean age was 45.66 ± 9.49 years, and 37 (78.72%) were women. The mean progression time since the acute infection was 20.68 ± 6.34 months. Active transcranial direct current stimulation was associated with a statistically significant improvement in physical fatigue at the end of treatment and 1 month as compared with sham stimulation. No significant effect was detected for cognitive fatigue. In terms of secondary outcomes, active transcranial direct current stimulation was associated with an improvement in depressive symptoms at the end of treatment. The treatment had no effects on the quality of life. All the adverse events reported were mild and transient, with no differences between the active stimulation and sham stimulation groups. In conclusion, our results suggest that transcranial direct current stimulation on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may improve physical fatigue. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and optimize stimulation protocols.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.