Functional status, mood state, and physical activity among women with post-acute COVID-19 syndrome

  1. Stephen J. Carter
  2. Marissa N. Baranauskas
  3. John S. Raglin
  4. Bernice A. Pescosolido
  5. Brea L. Perry

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Abstract

Objectives

While organ-specific pathophysiology has been well-described in SARS-CoV-2 infection, less is known about the attendant effects on functional status, mood state and leisure-time physical activity (PA) in post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.

Methods

A case-control design was employed to recruit 32 women ( n = 17 SARS-CoV-2; n = 15 controls) matched on age (54 ± 12 years), body mass index (27 ± 6 kg/m 2 ), smoking status, and history of cardiopulmonary disease. Participants completed a series of assessments including the Modified Pulmonary Functional Status and Dyspnea Questionnaire (PFSDQ-M), Profile of Mood States (POMS), and Godin-Shephard Leisure-Time PA.

Results

SARS-CoV-2 participants exhibited poorer functional status ( p = 0.008) and reduced leisure-time PA ( p = 0.004) compared to controls. Significant between-group differences were also detected for the POMS total mood disturbance with sub-scale analyses revealing elevated tension, confusion, and lower vigor among SARS-CoV-2 participants (all p -values < 0.05). The number of SARS-CoV-2 symptoms (e.g., loss of taste / smell, muscle aches etc.) were associated ( r = 0.620, p = 0.008) with confusion.

Conclusion

The sequela of persistent SARS-CoV-2 symptoms elicit clear disturbances in functional status, mood state, and leisure-time PA among women with post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2022.01.11.22269088: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsIRB: Study procedures were performed in accordance with the ethical guidelines set forth by the Declaration of Helsinki and local institutional review board (IRB-2004439367).
    Consent: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before study involvement.
    Sex as a biological variableParticipants: Women at least four weeks to four months from having a positive laboratory test for SARS-CoV-2 and women without a history of SARS-CoV-2 (i.e., controls) were enrolled in a case-control design.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Data were analyzed with SPSS (v28; Armonk, NY).
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)
    Figures were generated using GraphPad Software (v8.3; La Jolla, CA).
    GraphPad
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Limitations: To our knowledge, no prior work has examined constructs of mental and physical health in SARS-CoV-2 while employing a case-control design matching participants on age, BMI, smoking status, and history of cardiopulmonary disease. As such, we have reasonable confidence that our observations are due to meaningful between-group differences in functional status, mood state, and leisure-time PA. Nevertheless, there are several limitations that need to be considered. First, the retrospective nature of the work limits our ability to know whether alterations in the observed outcomes were present before testing. Second, because the study sample was purposely limited to women, findings may not be generalizable to men. Third, since antibody testing was not performed, it is unknown if control participants might have unknowingly had a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. Lastly, we acknowledge a relatively small sample size. However, given the strength of the reported effect sizes – we reached statistical significance across multiple measures. Future work should examine prospective, longitudinal changes in functional status, mood state, and leisure-PA in post-acute COVID-19 syndrome while taking into consideration the related impact on quality-of-life and objective measures of PA. Such information will prove useful in our collective understanding about the sequela of persistent symptoms that can undermine mental and physical health in post-acute COVID-19 syndrome. Conclusions: The pres...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

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  2. Version published to 10.1101/2022.01.11.22269088v1 on medRxiv