Research shows that a significant number of people with constant fatigue and a reduced ability to exercise following a COVID-19 infection will likely meet the strict criteria for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).*

What the researchers did

Carmen Scheinbenbogen, M.D., acting director of the Institute for Medical Immunology in Berlin, Germany, and her colleagues studied 42 people with post-COVID-19 syndrome, including symptoms of constant fatigue and a reduced ability to exercise, to see if they would meet the strict diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS. 

This criterion requires the person to be experiencing a variety of severe cognitive and physiological symptoms for at least six months, including but not limited to problems sleeping, constant fatigue, pain, and post-exertional malaise (PEM)—where the symptoms get worse after a small amount of physical or cognitive exertion.

What they found

The researchers found that, of the 42 study participants,19 of them met the diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome. Eighteen of the 23 remaining participants still experienced symptoms, as well as PEM, but for less than the 14 hours required to fully meet the criteria.

Specifically, researchers found that the following were common across all participants: 

• Reduced hand grip strength 
• Certain lab tests related to inflammation and immunity
• The presence of orthostatic intolerance 
• Feeling lightheaded and/or dizzy upon standing

What it means

Scheinbenbogen says that Long COVID can cause a variety of symptoms, and some people may experience symptoms similar to ME/CFS.

“The major finding is that ME/CFS is indeed part of the spectrum of the post-COVID syndrome and very similar to the ME/CFS we know after other infectious triggers,” she says. 

Anthony Komaroff, M.D., a senior physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, says, “This paper adds to the evidence that an illness with symptoms that meet criteria for ME/CFS can follow COVID-19 in nearly half of those patients who have lingering symptoms.”

Komaroff says this can happen regardless of how mild or severe the COVID-19 infection was, but it’s more common after severe cases. He also points out that this study can’t determine how many COVID-19 patients could develop symptoms similar to ME/CFS, nor does it offer clues for how long the symptoms could last. What it does suggest is that the same treatments and self-care techniques for relieving those symptoms would likely apply to both syndromes.

*Tucker, M. E. (2022, September 16). Post-COVID Fatigue, Exercise Intolerance Signal ME/CFS. Medscape. Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/980536