Abbasi, Asghar, Gattoni, Chiara, Iacovino, Michelina et al. · Journal of clinical medicine · 2024 · DOI
This study tested whether supervised aerobic exercise training could help people with long COVID. Fourteen participants completed 20 sessions of exercise training over 10 weeks. After training, people reported feeling less fatigued, less anxious and depressed, and had better heart and lung fitness—without experiencing harmful immune system changes.
Exercise intolerance and post-exertional malaise are defining features of ME/CFS and long COVID. This study provides preliminary evidence that carefully designed aerobic training can improve fitness and quality of life without triggering immune dysregulation or exacerbating symptoms, which has important implications for rehabilitation protocols in post-viral fatigue conditions.
This pilot study does not prove exercise training is safe or effective for all ME/CFS or long COVID patients, particularly those with severe post-exertional malaise—the study did not systematically assess or define PEM outcomes. The small sample size (n=14) and lack of control group mean findings cannot establish causation or generalize to broader populations. Normal baseline inflammatory markers in this cohort may not reflect immune dysfunction in more severely affected patients.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Abbasi, Asghar, Gattoni, Chiara, Iacovino, Michelina, Ferguson, Carrie, Tosolini, Jacqueline, Singh, Ashrita, et al. (2024). A Pilot Study on the Effects of Exercise Training on Cardiorespiratory Performance, Quality of Life, and Immunologic Variables in Long COVID.. Journal of clinical medicine. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13185590
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-abbasi-2024-pilot-study,
author = {Abbasi, Asghar and Gattoni, Chiara and Iacovino, Michelina and Ferguson, Carrie and Tosolini, Jacqueline and Singh, Ashrita and Soe, Kyaw Khaing and Porszasz, Janos and Lanks, Charles and Rossiter, Harry B and Casaburi, Richard and Stringer, William W},
title = {A Pilot Study on the Effects of Exercise Training on Cardiorespiratory Performance, Quality of Life, and Immunologic Variables in Long COVID.},
journal = {Journal of clinical medicine},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.3390/jcm13185590},
note = {PubMed: 39337079},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/abbasi-2024-pilot-study},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/abbasi-2024-pilot-study
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