FATIGUE IN PATIENTS WITH LONG COVID-19: ROLE OF THE 6-MINUTE WALK TEST IN EVALUATING EXERCISE PERFORMANCE

• Grant number: 25/01275-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Clinics
• Principal Investigator: João Marcos Salge
• Grantee: Reuel Thomé Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto do Coração Professor Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini (INCOR). Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP (HCFMUSP). Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/01769-5 - Late assessment of physical, psychological and cognitive effects in a cohort of patients surviving COVID-19 hospitalization at a tertiary university hospital: a multidisciplinary approach, AP.TEM

Abstract

From the end of 2019 to the present day, COVID-19 has infected more than 700 million people and caused more than 7 million deaths worldwide. Since the beginning of the pandemic, studies have observed that several infected patients, especially those with severe forms of the disease, developed long-term COVID, with symptoms such as fatigue, tiredness, emotional disturbances, among others. Fatigue is the most prevalent symptom of this syndrome and can significantly impact patients' quality of life, including daily activities such as walking. Its pathophysiological mechanism and the magnitude of its clinical repercussion have not been completely elucidated, nor is the role of exercise functional assessment tests in this context clear. Therefore, the objective of this study is to validate the use of the distance covered in the 6-minute walk test associated with the recording of the exertional desaturation curve as a low technological complexity tool in the assessment of fatigue in patients with long Covid.