Highlights
- Multimodal therapy demonstrated good feasibility in long COVID patients.
- Improvements were observed in anxiety, depression, fatigue, and cognitive function.
- No adverse effects were reported during the intervention.
Study Design
This pre–post pilot study was conducted in an outpatient mental health clinic and included adults aged 20–65 years with persistent symptoms following COVID-19 infection. Participants were assigned to either an intervention or control group. The intervention group completed eight multimodal therapy sessions over a four-week period. The multimodal therapy integrated biofeedback, vibroacoustic therapy synchronized with music incorporating binaural beats, and visual content. Assessments were performed at baseline and post-intervention using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7), Cambridge Brain Sciences (CBS) tasks, and the COVID-19 Persistent Symptom Questionnaire. Feasibility outcomes included recruitment and retention rates, as well as qualitative participant feedback.
What Did They Find?
Of the 15 participants enrolled, 13 completed the study. Compared to baseline, participants in the intervention group showed statistically significant improvements in anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9), cognitive performance on two CBS tasks (“Odd” and “Double Trouble”), fatigue, and difficulties with concentration and memory. Qualitative feedback was uniformly positive, and no feasibility concerns or adverse effects were reported.
Why It Matters
These findings suggest that multimodal therapy may be a safe and promising intervention for addressing the multifaceted symptoms of long COVID. Despite limitations related to the small sample size, the study demonstrates feasibility and provides a strong rationale for conducting a full-scale randomized controlled trial to further evaluate efficacy.
Reference: Korapatti C, Vera L, Miller K. Biosound Therapy as a treatment for long COVID patients: A pre-post pilot study. Explore (NY). 2024;20(5):103000. doi:10.1016/j.explore.2024.04.004
Link to the full paper: Click here