Chapter 5 138 Nursing home residents were excluded due to inability to attend follow-up appointments. For the present analyses, we included all participants with at least one month of followup and at least one completed fatigue questionnaire by 1 August 2021. RECoVERED was approved by the medical ethical review board of the AUMC (NL73759.018.20). All participants provided written informed consent. Study procedures and instruments Study visits at enrolment (D0) and day 7 (D7) of follow-up took place at the participant’s home or hospital ward. Subsequent visits took place at one of two study sites. Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics Past medical history and socio-demographic data were collected during the first month of follow-up. Data on presence and duration of symptoms (based on WHO Case Report Form [19]) were collected at the D0, D7 and month 1 visits through participant interview and monthly from month 2 via online questionnaires. Participants rated their anxiety and sadness on a scale from 0 (low) to 10 (high) at D0 and D7 visits. Physical measurements (i.e., heart rate, respiratory rate [RR], oxygen saturation [SpO2]), were measured at D0 and D7, or retrieved from hospital records for retrospectivelyenrolled participants. At month 1 of follow-up, participants reported their pre-COVID occupation. Participants in paid employment were asked at month 12 whether they were on long-term leave due to COVID-19 symptoms. Measurement of fatigue At month 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 of follow-up, participants completed the Short Fatigue Questionnaire (SFQ)[20] which asks participants to rate their agreement on a 7-point scale with four statements regarding fatigue in the past two weeks [20]. The total SFQ score ranges from 4 to 28. A validated cut-off threshold of ≥18 defines severe fatigue [21]. Definitions Persistent severe fatigue was defined as being severely fatigued (SFQ≥18) 6 months after illness onset [14]. Illness onset was the first day of COVID-19 symptoms were
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