Prevalence and Persistent Fatigue among Patients Post COVID-19 in Erbil City

Abstract

Background and objectives: Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms, affecting more than 75% of people. It is a subjective lack of physical or mental energy. The goal of the study was to assess persistent fatigue among patients Post-COVID-19 in Erbil city. Methods: A quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at a private clinic and home for patients in Erbil city. A nonprobability-purposive sample was selected for 300 Post-covid patients. Data was collected through interviews using a questionnaire, and a modified fatigue impact scale was used to assess patients’ fatigue in post-COVID-19. Results: The results show that one third (31.7%) of the study samples were older than 50 years, and more than half (52.3%) were males, less than one third (28.3%) graduated from an institute, and more than one third (32.3%) were housewives. The majority of the samples (84.7%) lived in areas, and almost all the samples (81.7%) were married. Most of the samples (73.0%) without comorbidity disease about 75.3 were overweight, and the samples (83.0%) were not hospitalized during COVID-19, about more than half (67.0%) were not received oxygen. Less than half (46.3%) of the samples have physical fatigue, and more than half (63.7%) have mild mental fatigue. There was a significant association between fatigue and gender, hospitalization, and receiving oxygen during COVID-19 at P-value ≤ 0.05. Conclusion: The study concluded that the participants have physical and mental fatigue and physical and mental fatigues are decreasing by increasing the duration of illness from the first to the sixth month. A significant difference was found between fatigue and the female gender.