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. 2023 May 18;11(10):1477.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare11101477.

The Effects of Arginine-Based Supplements on Fatigue Levels following COVID-19 Infection: A Prospective Study in Romania

Adina Turcu-Stiolica  1 , Claudiu Marinel Ionele  2 , Bogdan Silviu Ungureanu  3 , Mihaela-Simona Subtirelu  1
Affiliations

The Effects of Arginine-Based Supplements on Fatigue Levels following COVID-19 Infection: A Prospective Study in Romania

Adina Turcu-Stiolica et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of two arginine-based supplements on the fatigue level of patients following the COVID-19 infection. This is a prospective study of the SARS-CoV-2-infected patients divided into two groups (according to family physicians' prescriptions, Group 1 of patients were treated with Astenor Energy® containing arginine aspartate, B6 vitamin, biotin and magnesium, and Group 2 of patients were treated with Astenor Forte® containing L-arginine and malic acid). The patients visited their family physicians from October 2021 to January 2022, complaining of physical and/or mental fatigue following the COVID-19 infection. We recorded 505 patients (146 patients in Group 1 and 359 patients in Group 2) and analyzed the fatigue level using the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS) through its total (FAS-T), mental (FAS-M) and physical (FAS-P) scores, at baseline and after three months of treatment. There was no difference between the two groups in terms of age (p = 0.265), but more men were included in Group 1 than in Group 2 (p = 0.001). The patients from Group 2 were significantly more likely to be treated at home than those included in Group 1 (89.7% vs. 65.1%, p < 0.0001) because of the lower severity of the COVID-19 infection (asymptomatic or mild: 82.5% vs. 48.7%, p < 0.0001). After 3 months of treatment, patients indicated no fatigue in the higher percentage compared to than at the baseline (68.7% vs. 27.7%), and the fatigue level significantly decreased both in Group 1 (median baseline 33.0 vs. follow-up 17.00, p < 0.0001) and Group 2 (median baseline 25.0 vs. follow-up 17.00, p < 0.0001). These findings suggest that supplements with L-arginine may be proposed as a remedy to restore physical and mental performance affected by the fatigue burden in people with COVID-19 or following the COVID-19 infection.

Keywords: COVID-19; arginine; fatigue; persistent symptoms; post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of this study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The correlation heatmap between FAS scores and measured characteristics (colors range from bright blue for strong positive correlations, to bright red, for strong negative correlations).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The comparison between baseline and after 3 months of treatment for fatigue levels: (A) treatment with Astenor ENERGY®; (B) treatment with Astenor FORTE®. **** p-value < 0.0001.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The comparison between baseline and after 3 months of treatment for AST and ALT: (A,B) treatment with Astenor Energy; (C,D) treatment with Astenor Forte. **** p-value < 0.0001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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