According to scientists, ‘exercise intolerance’ should be recognized as an official symptom of extended Covid.
The illness, which is still not fully understood, can rob people of a decade’s worth of physical fitness, according to an assessment of existing research.
The discovery adds to the extensive range of symptoms associated with protracted Covid — the name given to symptoms of the disease that persist for months after a Coronavirus infection.
Prior research has identified headaches, weariness, and brain fog as the most prevalent complaints, but anecdotal evidence suggests that people also struggle to exercise.
Given the prevalence of these symptoms, determining whether extended Covid is the underlying cause of these issues has proven difficult.
Professor Matthew Durstenfeld, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and the leader of the latest review, stated that “something is going on.”
His team compared the endurance capacity of patients with extended Covid to those of comparable age who had recovered from the virus.
They discovered that long-term Covid patients performed poorly and had the stamina of someone ten years younger.
Professor Durstenfeld told The Washington Post that forty-year-olds with lengthy Covid ran and cycled like someone in their forties.’
It is thought that 16 million Americans and 2 million Britons have the illness, however, doctors disagree on the exact figure.
The new study focused on 464 individuals with lengthy Covid and 359 without, ages 39 to 56, who participated in nine prior trials.
All participants performed an exercise capacity and heart rate test on a treadmill or exercise bicycle.
In general, those who had recovered from Covid could tolerate an age-appropriate level of physical activity.
Their inability to reach the average heart rate required during exercise slowed blood flow throughout the body.
For moderate exercise, the average heart rate should be between 90 and 126 beats per minute, whereas it should be between 126 and 153 during strenuous exercise.
In addition, their muscles absorbed less oxygen from the bloodstream than usual, which inhibited muscle contraction. Some individuals hyperventilate as well.
Professor Durstenfeld stated that these are not typical responses for someone who has been out of shape due to illness.
In the study, which was published in JAMA Network Open, the researchers referred to the ailment as “exercise intolerance.”
Dr. David Systrom, a lung specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who was not involved in the study, said that people with lengthy Covid may experience molecular changes in their muscles, nerves, and blood vessels.
This implies that their bodies may become less tolerant of the physical demands of exercise, even if their lungs and hearts are sound.
Eight percent of American people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suffer from a form of long Covid.
Due to the significant underreporting of instances that have occurred since the Omicron variety surfaced a year ago, it is nearly impossible to predict a person’s likelihood of developing it after Covid infection.
