Hydrogen Therapy Shows Promise for Post-COVID Fatigue Relief
- Authors
- Jian Joli, Patrizia Buck, Stephan Zipfel, Andreas Stengel
- Journal
- Frontiers in Psychiatry
- Year
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.947973
- Study Type
- clinical
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Germany
- Health Condition
- Post-COVID-19 Fatigue
- Body System
- Respiratory
TL;DR
A lot of people who had COVID-19 deal with extreme tiredness months later, and researchers found that older people, women, and those with depression or anxiety are more likely to experience it. The good news is that treatments like physical therapy, special breathing exercises, and oxygen therapy seem to help people feel less tired and get stronger, but doctors need to do bigger studies to figure out which treatments work best.
Key Finding
Molecular hydrogen inhalation showed beneficial effects on physical function (measured by a 6-minute walking test) and respiratory function in patients with post-COVID-19 fatigue, though the evidence comes from small, mostly uncontrolled studies.
Summary
This review examined 20 studies involving over 5,600 people to understand fatigue that persists after COVID-19 infection. Researchers found that older age, being female, severe initial infection, multiple existing health conditions, and prior depression or anxiety increased the risk of developing long-term fatigue. Several treatments showed promise in small studies, including breathing in molecular hydrogen gas, which improved walking ability and breathing function in some patients.
Practical Takeaway
While this review mentions that hydrogen inhalation may help with post-COVID fatigue symptoms, the evidence is limited to small studies without proper control groups. Larger, well-designed clinical trials in humans are needed before hydrogen can be recommended as a treatment. Physical therapy combined with psychological support also showed promise and may be worth discussing with a healthcare provider.
Abstract
Fatigue is recognized as one of the most commonly presented long-term complaints in individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2. This systematic review was performed to describe symptoms, etiology, possible risk factors related to post-COVID-19 fatigue and the therapeutic approaches used for the treatment of post-COVID-19 fatigue. For the systematic literature search the databases PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and PsycInfo were used. All articles that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed for demographics, clinical data and treatment. Included were studies which focused on an adult population (18-65 years old); elderly patients and patients with chronic somatic diseases which can also cause fatigue were excluded. We identified 2,851, screened 2,193 and finally included 20 studies with moderate to high methodological quality, encompassing 5,629 participants. Potential risk factors for post-COVID-19 fatigue were old age, female sex, severe clinical status in the acute phase of infection, a high number of comorbidities, and a prediagnosis of depression/anxiety. Lastly, a possible autoimmune etiology was suspected. Several treatment approaches have been tested mostly in small and uncontrolled studies so far: a Chinese herbal formulation improved breathlessness and fatigue. Moreover, molecular hydrogen (H2) inhalation had beneficial health effects in terms of improved physical (6-min walking test) and respiratory function in patients with post-COVID-19. Patients also noticed improvement in fatigue after undergoing hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) and enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP). Lastly. muscle strength and physical function were improved after undergoing an 8-weeks biweekly physical therapy course including aerobic training, strengthening exercises, diaphragmatic breathing techniques, and mindfulness training. However, larger and controlled studies e.g., investigating the effect of physical and / or psychotherapy for patients with post-COVID-19 fatigue are urgently warranted.