Course of General Fatigue in Patients with Post-COVID-19 Conditions Who Were Prescribed Hochuekkito: A Single-Center Exploratory Pilot Study

Background: After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, general fatigue in patients with long COVID and post-COVID-19 conditions (PCC) became a medical issue. Although there is a lack of evidence-based treatments, Kampo medicine (traditional Japanese medicine) has gained attention in Japan. At an outpatient clinic in Japan specializing in long COVID, 24% of all prescriptions were Kampo medicines, and 72% of Kampo medicine prescriptions were hochuekkito. However, there has been no prospective, quantitative study on the course of fatigue in patients with long COVID and PCC who were prescribed hochuekkito. The aim of this study was to clarify the course of fatigue in those patients. Methods: This study included patients aged 18 years or older with general fatigue who visited the long COVID specialized outpatient clinic at Okayama University Hospital and consented to participate after being prescribed hochuekkito. We reviewed the backgrounds of the patients, and we evaluated the patients' fatigue assessment scale in person or online. Results: Twenty patients were enrolled in this study from September to December in 2023. The average age of the patients was 42.9 years (SD: 15.8 years) and 12 patients (60%) were female. After hochuekkito administration, the fatigue assessment scale score decreased from 35.9 (SD: 5.9) at the initial visit to 31.2 (SD: 9.4) after 8 weeks, indicating a trend for improvement in fatigue (difference: 4.7; 95% CI: 0.5-8.9). Conclusions: A trend for improvement in fatigue was observed in patients with long COVID and PCC who were prescribed hochuekkito, indicating a potential benefit of hochuekkito for general fatigue in such patients. General fatigue in patients with long COVID or PCC can be classified as post-infectious fatigue syndrome and is considered a condition of qi deficiency in Kampo medicine, for which hochuekkito is appropriately indicated.