ArticlePloS one2023
Post-COVID-19 syndrome: Physical capacity, fatigue and quality of life.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Systematic Review of Dyspnea and Chronic Fatigue in Patients With Long COVID: Clinical Characteristics and Associated Laboratory Parameters.Pulmonary medicine · 2026Pooled it
- The impact of long COVID on physical and cardiorespiratory parameters: A systematic review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Health-related quality of life in immunocompromised adults with mild-moderate COVID-19 treated with nirmatrelvir-ritonavir: results from the randomized, double-blinded EPIC-IC trial.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2026Trial
- Therapeutic Effects of Slow Deep Breathing on Cardiopulmonary Function, Physical Performance, Biochemical Parameters, and Stress in Older Adult Patients with Long COVID in Phayao, Thailand.Annals of geriatric medicine and research · 2025Trial
- Integrative multimodal treatment approach for patients suffering from Post-COVID syndrome: a study based on qualitative interviews with individuals participating in an 11-week day clinic program.Frontiers in public health · 2025Trial
- Effects of a symptom-titrated exercise program on fatigue and quality of life in people with post-COVID condition - a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Population-based comparison of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 and health-related quality of life across pandemic periods: Omicron era versus early pandemic.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Persistent Symptoms After SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Referred Occupational Clinical Registry: Symptom Patterns and Associated Factors.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Photobiomodulation for cognitive dysfunction (Brain Fog) in post-COVID-19 condition: a randomized double-blind sham-controlled pilot trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- Targeting dyspnoea through exercise intensity: insights from pulmonary rehabilitation and beyond, a narrative review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2026Review
- Functional consequences of post-COVID-19 syndrome: Evidence from Qatar, 2022.Qatar medical journal · 2026Article
- Kinetics of the PASC Index in Long COVID.PloS one · 2026Article
- REGENECYTE cord blood cell therapy in post-COVID syndrome: a phase IIa randomized, placebo-controlled trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- Extracellular-to-total body water ratio is associated with comorbidity and cardiorespiratory fitness in older adults with post-COVID-19 syndrome.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Insomnia, cardiorespiratory function and quality of life in individuals with post-COVID-19 fatigue.Sleep medicine: X · 2025Article
- Impact of long COVID phenotypes on quality of life following symptomatic omicron infection in Brazil: a machine learning analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Observational
- The Effort, Dyspnea, and Cooperation Scores in Mild and Moderate Post-COVID-19 Patients: Results of a Retrospective Study.Advances in respiratory medicine · 2025Article
- COVID-19 Alters Respiratory Function Associations in High-Level Athletes.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- Longitudinal relationships between changes in post-COVID mental fatigue and neuropsychiatric symptoms across distinct recovery trajectories.Inflammopharmacology · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePost-Covid-19 syndrome is defined as the persistence of symptoms beyond 3 months after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The most common symptoms include reduced exercise tolerance and capacity, fatigue, neurocognitive problems, muscle pain and dyspnea. The aim of our work was to investigate exercise capacity and markers of subjective wellbeing and their independent relation to post-COVID-19 syndrome. PATIENTS AND
methodsWe examined a total of 69 patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome (23 male/46 female; age 46±12 years; BMI 28.9±6.6 kg/m2) with fatigue and a score ≥22 in the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS). We assessed exercise capacity on a cycle ergometer, a 6-minute walk test, the extent of fatigue (FAS), markers of health-related quality of life (SF-36 questionnaire) and mental health (HADS).
resultsOn average the Fatigue Assessment Scale was 35.0±7.4 points. Compared with normative values the VO2max/kg was reduced by 8.6±5.8 ml/min/kg (27.7%), the 6MWT by 71±96 m (11.9%), the health-related quality of life physical component score by 15.0±9.0 points (29.9%) and the mental component score by 10.6±12.8 points (20.6%). Subdivided into mild fatigue (FAS score 22-34) and severe fatigue (FAS score ≥35), patients with severe fatigue showed a significant reduction of the 6-minute walk test by 64±165 m (p<0.01) and the health-related quality of life physical component score by 5.8±17.2 points (p = 0.01). In multiple regression analysis age (β = -0.24, p = 0.02), sex (β = 0.22, p = 0.03), mental (β = -0.51, p<0.01) and physical (β = -0.44, p<0.01) health-related quality of life and by trend the 6-minute walk test (β = -0.22, p = 0.07) were associated with the FAS.
conclusionPatients with post-COVID-19 syndrome show reduced maximal and submaximal physical performance as well as limitations in quality of life, particularly pronounced in the physical components. These results are essentially influenced by the severity of fatigue and implicating the need for targeted treatments.
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