Pietro Oldrati

Fatigue is a common and debilitating symptom of many diseases, including cancer, multiple sclerosis (MS) and post-COVID syndrome. Fatigue is the subjective feeling of overwhelming exhaustion and tiredness that can manifest as physical and cognitive symptoms. In MS, it is reported by 95% of the patients and is the leading cause of reduced work productivity. In post-COVID syndrome, it affects around 80% of patients. Despite its high prevalence and devastating consequences, the symptom is poorly understood, and effective therapies are unavailable.

Current methods to assess fatigue rely on questionnaires. Those are subjective, prone to recall bias and potentially confounded by other symptoms. Also, they neglect the difference between cognitive and physical fatigue. Furthermore, they require specialized equipment and personnel. Hence, they are only applied sporadically in the hospital.

Pietro and his team are working on a universal approach for quantifying and managing fatigue. By leveraging smartphones and wearables, they are developing novel objective measurements to separately assess cognitive and physical fatigue. This allows to overcome the limitations of existing questionnaires and more regular assessments. The goal is to create detailed fatigue profiles to help clinicians achieve timely interventions and aid in developing therapies. This solution could help patients manage the symptom more effectively and regain their health and productivity.

In his fellowship, Pietro is working on the clinical validation of the tools and improving the infrastructure. These are necessary steps to bring the solution to the market.

Affiliation: Prof. Dr. Viktor von Wyl

Start date: 10/2022