An Analysis Between Body Composition and Vertigo Post-Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients

TL;DR

This study found a link between body composition and vertigo in patients recovering from COVID-19, suggesting body metrics should be considered in post-COVID assessments.

Contribution

The study is the first to investigate the association between body composition and vertigo in post-COVID-19 patients.

Findings

A significant association was found between body composition metrics and self-reported vertigo in post-COVID-19 patients.

Patients with vertigo showed significant differences in height, body mass, and musculoskeletal mass compared to those without vertigo.

Over 50% of participants reported vertigo, with a notable portion experiencing it during or after their illness.

Abstract

Introduction
 An association between the sensation of vertigo, and body composition has not been investigated in post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients.

Objective
 To evaluate the probable association between the sensation of vertigo and body composition—as amount of fat, bone, and muscle—in post-COVID-19 patients.

Methods
 Cross-sectional study with a sample of post-COVID-19 patients who responded to the visual analog scale (VAS) and the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI). Clinical assessment and electrical bioimpedance were used to determine body composition.

Results
 There were 105 participants evaluated, 61% (n = 64) of whom were male, aged 49.5 ± 11.7 years, with an average height of 165.6 ± 19.9 cm, body weight of 87.6 ± 20 kg, and body mass index (BMI) of 31.1 ± 5.4 kg/m. The prevalence of self-reported vertigo was 51.4% (n = 54); of these, 11.4% (n = 12) related vertigo before the diagnosis of COVID-19, and 40% (n = 42) related vertigo during or after COVID-19. Furthermore, 37.2% (n = 39) of the sample reported that vertigo persisted after medical discharge. In the comparative analysis, the data showed a significant difference between the groups with and without vertigo for height (
p
 = 0.001), body mass (
p
 = 0.006), body water (
p
 = 0.001), lean mass (
p
 = 0.002), fat-free mass (
p
 = 0.001), and musculoskeletal mass (
p
 = 0.001).

Conclusion
 There was a significant association between body composition and the complaint of vertigo in post-COVID-19 patients, suggesting that these aspects should be considered when assessing and can contribute to the construction of knowledge about long COVID.