Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Post-COVID Syndrome

Bahçeşehir University40 enrolled

Overview

The aim of this study is to increase parasympathetic activity and decrease the severity of symptoms by providing vagal stimulation with the t-VNS method in order to suppress the increased sympathetic activity in patients with prolonged Covid symptoms.The main question\[s\] it aims to answer are: Question 1:Is left ear transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation effective in suppressing the symptoms of patients in Post Covid syndrome? Question 2:Is bilateral auricular transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation effective in suppressing the symptoms of patients in Post Covid syndrome? A 5-minute heart rate variability measurement will be performed to measure the effectiveness of vagus nerve stimulation in participants.HRV is a non-invasive method used to evaluate ANS activity and is a measure of heart rate change over a period of time

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Long COVID Vagus Nerve Stimulations Heart Rates Autonomic Nervous System Disorders

Interventions

Auricular transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulationDEVICE

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) was performed with an FDA-approved Vagustim stimulation device and an electrode-shaped earpiece. In the participants included in the study and randomized to two groups, i) left ear taVNS was applied to the first group and ii) double-ear taVNS was applied to the second group.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 45 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Being 18 years or older * Experiencing at least one of the post-covid symptoms for 12 weeks or longer Exclusion Criteria: * Considering that the female reproductive hormones level in the body and menstrual cycle may affect the ANS in female patients, female participants in perimenopausal, post-menopausal and pregnancy conditions were excluded from the study. * Participants who used medication for the treatment of ANS dysfunction in the last six months were also excluded from the study.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Heart Rate Variability

HRV is a non-invasive method used to evaluate ANS activity and is a measure of heart rate change over a period of time. It analyzes the change in the beat-beat intervals of the heart and reflects the balance between PNS and SNS. During the analysis of heart rate variability measurement, the results obtained from sub-parameters such as stress index, time-domain and frequency-domain measurements allow evaluation of PNS and SNS activity.

Time frame: After the evaluation of the patients on the first day of participation in the study, the final evaluation was completed at the end of the 10th session (10 days later).

Secondary Outcomes

Fatigue Severity Scale

The Fatigue Severity Scale, which is applied in the form of a questionnaire to determine the severity of fatigue accompanied by chronic diseases, consists of a total of 9 questions and according to the results obtained, it gives results as No Fatigue (\<2.8 points) and chronic fatigue syndrome (\>6.1 points).