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Persistent fatigue, shortness of breath, difficulty concentrating, anxiety or low mood: Many people continue to suffer from symptoms months after a COVID-19 infection, significantly restricting their daily lives. However, reliable data on which treatments are effective remain scarce.

"People with post-COVID first come to us at the primary care doctor's office. That's why it was important to us to test a treatment right where those affected are being cared for—using medicines that have been known for decades, are affordable and readily available," says professor Ildikó Gágyor from the Institute of General Practice at Würzburg University Hospital (UKW).

The professor heads PreVitaCOV, one of the first studies into drug-based treatments for post-COVID syndrome in Germany—involving a large sample size of 323 patients for this condition. The study was conducted in Würzburg, Tübingen and Kiel. Its findings have now been published in the journal eClinicalMedicine.

The study included adults who had had a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection at least 12 weeks previously and who were still suffering from typical post-COVID symptoms. The majority were women.

Participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups and received either low-dose prednisolone (a corticosteroid), a combination of vitamins B1, B6 and B12, both together or a placebo for 28 days.

As an anti-inflammatory agent, prednisolone could help to reduce persistent inflammatory processes , which are thought to be a possible cause of post-COVID syndrome.

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