Muscle abnormalities worsen after post-exertional malaise in long COVID.
case_control · Level III
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38177128.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-44432-3 and PMC identifier 10766651.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
A subgroup of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 remain symptomatic over three months after infection. A distinctive symptom of patients with long COVID is post-exertional malaise, which is associated with a worsening of fatigue- and pain-related symptoms after acute mental or physical exercise, but its underlying pathophysiology is unclear. With this longitudinal case-control study (NCT05225688), we provide new insights into the pathophysiology of post-exertional malaise in patients with long COVID. We show that skeletal muscle structure is associated with a lower exercise capacity in patients, and local and systemic metabolic disturbances, severe exercise-induced myopathy and tissue infiltration of amyloid-containing deposits in skeletal muscles of patients with long COVID worsen after induction of post-exertional malaise. This study highlights novel pathways that help to understand the pathophysiology of post-exertional malaise in patients suffering from long COVID and other post-infectious diseases.
Medical subject headings
- COVID-19
- Musculoskeletal Abnormalities