Publication date: Jul 20, 2025
Following an acute infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a substantial percentage of patients report the persistence of debilitating symptoms, often grouped in a syndrome termed ‘long COVID’. We sought to identify potential pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for the persistence, in some long COVID patients, of symptoms related to fatigue/exercise intolerance (excessive or early fatigue, excessive or early dyspnoea, muscle weakness, and myalgias) more than 2 years after the original infection. Twelve patients who reported persistent symptoms (Long COVID group; 57 +/- 6 years, mean +/- SD), and 14 patients without the symptoms (Control group; 57 +/- 8 years) were evaluated. An extensive series of measurements were performed to identify pathophysiological mechanisms potentially responsible for the symptoms. In long COVID patients, all items evaluating quality of life (SF-36 questionnaire) had lower scores (P
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| 2years | exercise intolerance |
| Coronavirus | exercise ventilatory inefficiency |
| Covid | long COVID |
| Extensive | oxidative metabolism |
| Pathophysiological |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | SARS-CoV-2 infection |
| pathway | REACTOME | SARS-CoV-2 Infection |
| disease | IDO | acute infection |
| disease | MESH | syndrome |
| disease | MESH | ‘long COVID |
| disease | MESH | infection |
| disease | IDO | quality |