Impact Of Covid-19 Infection On Activity Levels, Perceived Fatigue, And Mental Health

Abstract

Physical activity patterns have changed dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether perceived fatigue and mental health, which are known to be altered after surviving COVID-19 infection, impacts physical activity is not understood. PURPOSE: To determine associations between indices of mental health, perceptions of fatigue, and physical activity in COVID-19 survivors. METHODS: 24 COVID-19 survivor-control pairs (n = 48, males 14, females 34) matched for age, sex, and BMI and 2-13 months post infection (8.04 ± 0.71 months), aged 19-69 yr (38.6 ± 17.8 yr, 46 White, 2 Asian) completed 1) Past Medical History, 2) Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS), 3) Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy – Fatigue (FACIT-F), and 4) wore an accelerometer to track activity for up to 7 days. RESULTS: There were no differences between controls (CON) and COVID-19 survivors (COV) for sedentary time/day (p = 0.14), sedentary bouts/day (p = 0.29), and steps/day (p = 0.31). COV scored higher than CON on the depression subsection of the DASS (6.17 ± 6.54 vs. 2.88 ± 3.99, p = 0.021). COV also scored higher than CON on the anxiety sub-section of the DASS (5.17 ± 4.57 vs. 2.83 ± 3.58, p = 0.028). However, COV were similar to CON on the stress sub-section of the DASS (6.83 ± 4.97 vs. 8.92 ± 7.25, p = 0.13). Additionally, COV reported greater feelings of fatigue, scoring lower than CON on the FACIT-F by 6.08 points (p = 0.004). There were no correlations between anxiety and depression with steps/day (R2 = 0.005-0.09), nor between time since infection with perceived fatigue, anxiety, and depression (R2 = 0.0007-0.2). CONCLUSION: Despite being 8 months post COVID infection on average, COVID survivors reported greater anxiety, depression, and feelings of fatigue than healthy matched controls during the pandemic. Physical activity (steps/day), thought to accelerate recovery from COVID-19, did not appear to mediate an individual’s perceived fatigue and mental health in these mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19 infection. Funded by Institute for Women’s Leadership (Marquette University)