Aparisi, ÁlvaroYbarra-Falcón, CristinaIglesias-Echeverría, CarolinaGarcía-Gómez, MarioMarcos-Mangas, MartaValle-Peñacoba, GonzaloCarrasco-Moraleja, ManuelFernández-de-Las-Peñas, CésarGuerrero, Ángel L.García-Azorín, David2022-09-222022-09-222022Aparisi Á, Ybarra-Falcón C, Iglesias-Echeverría C, García-Gómez M, Marcos-Mangas M, Valle-Peñacoba G, Carrasco-Moraleja M, Fernández-de-Las-Peñas C, Guerrero ÁL, García-Azorín D. Cardio-pulmonary dysfunction evaluation in patients with persistent post-COVID-19 headache. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 26;19(7):3961. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph190739611661-7827http://hdl.handle.net/10230/54148Background (1): Headache is a prevalent symptom experienced during ongoing SARS-CoV-2 infection, but also weeks after recovery. Whether cardio-pulmonary dysfunction contributes causally to headache persistence is unknown. Methods (2): We conducted a case-control analysis nested in a prospective cohort study. Individuals were recruited from August 2020 to December 2020. Patients were grouped according to the presence or absence of long-COVID headache for three months after COVID-19 resolution. We compared demographic data, clinical variables, cardio-pulmonary laboratory biomarkers, quality of life, and cardio-pulmonary function between groups. Results (3): A cohort of 70 COVID-19 patients was evaluated. Patients with headaches (n = 10; 14.3%) were more frequently female (100% vs. 58.4%; p = 0.011) and younger (46.9 ± 8.45 vs. 56.13 ± 12 years; p = 0.023). No between-group differences in laboratory analysis, resting echocardiography, cardio-pulmonary exercise test, or pulmonary function tests were observed. Conclusion (4): In this exploratory study, no significant differences in cardio-pulmonary dysfunction were observed between patients with and without long-COVID headache during mid-term follow-up.application/pdfeng© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19073961COVID-19Cardio-pulmonary exercise testingHeadache disordersLong-COVID syndromeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess