Introduction

Fatigue is a prominent symptom in post-COVID condition (PCC) sequelae, termed “long COVID.” Herein, we aim to ascertain the effect of fatigue on psychosocial function in persons living with PCC.

Methods

This post hoc analysis evaluated the effects of vortioxetine on measures of fatigue as assessed by the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) in psychosocial function as measured by the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) in persons with PCC. We also evaluated the change in FSS on psychosocial functioning as measured by the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS). This post hoc analysis obtained data from a recently published placebo-controlled study evaluating vortioxetine’s effect on objective cognitive functions in persons living with PCC.

Results

One hundred forty-four participants meeting World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for PCC were included in this analysis. At the end of 8 weeks of vortioxetine treatment, significant improvement of all domains was observed for psychosocial functioning. There was a significant between-group difference at treatment endpoint in the family, social, and work SDS subcategories (p < 0.001). There was a statistically significant interaction effect between the treatment condition time point and FSS effect on the SDS social (χ² = 10.640, p = 0.014) and work (χ² = 9.342, p = 0.025) categories but a statistically insignificant effect on the family categories ((χ² = 5.201, p = 0.158)).

Discussion

This post hoc analysis suggests that vortioxetine treatment significantly improves psychosocial function in persons with PCC. Our results also indicate that the improvement in psychosocial function was significantly mediated by improvement in measures of fatigue. Our results provide empirical support for recommendations to identify therapeutics for fatigue in persons living with PCC with a broader aim to improve psychosocial function in this common and severely impaired population.

中文翻译：

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沃替西汀对 COVID-19 后疲劳症状调节的心理社会功能的影响：二次分析

介绍

疲劳是新冠病毒后病症 (PCC) 后遗症的一个突出症状，称为“长期新冠病毒”。在此，我们的目的是确定疲劳对 PCC 患者心理社会功能的影响。

方法

这项事后分析评估了沃替西汀对通过疲劳严重程度量表 (FSS) 评估的疲劳测量的影响，以及通过希恩残疾量表 (SDS) 测量的 PCC 患者心理社会功能的影响。我们还评估了通过 Sheehan 残疾量表 (SDS) 测量的 FSS 对心理社会功能的变化。这项事后分析从最近发表的一项安慰剂对照研究中获得了数据，该研究评估了沃替西汀对 PCC 患者客观认知功能的影响。

结果

本次分析纳入了 144 名符合世界卫生组织 (WHO) PCC 标准的参与者。沃替西汀治疗 8 周结束时，观察到所有领域的心理社会功能均显着改善。家庭、社会和工作 SDS 子类别的治疗终点存在显着的组间差异 ( p  < 0.001)。治疗条件时间点和 FSS 对 SDS 社交（χ ² = 10.640，p = 0.014）和工作（χ ² = 9.342，p = 0.025）类别的影响之间存在统计学上显着的交互作用，但对家庭类别（（χ ² = 5.201，p = 0.158））。

讨论

这项事后分析表明，沃替西汀治疗可显着改善 PCC 患者的心理社会功能。我们的结果还表明，心理社会功能的改善很大程度上是通过疲劳测量的改善来介导的。我们的研究结果为确定 PCC 患者疲劳治疗方法的建议提供了实证支持，其更广泛的目标是改善这一常见和严重受损人群的心理社会功能。