Structural and functional impairments of skeletal muscle in patients with postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Abstract

Several months after mild acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, a substantial proportion of patients present persisting, and often debilitating, symptoms and sequelae. These patients show reduced quality of life due to exercise intolerance, muscle weakness, and fatigue. The present study supports the hypothesis that “peripheral” impairments at skeletal muscle level, namely, reduced mitochondrial function and markers of mitochondrial biogenesis, are major determinants of exercise intolerance and fatigue, “central” phenomena at respiratory, and cardiac level being less relevant.