Adodo, Rachel, Sarmento Da Nobrega, Antonio, Villar, Rodrigo et al. · Journal of rehabilitation medicine · 2026 · DOI
This study looked at how heart rate and physical activity are related in people with long COVID who also have ME/CFS-like symptoms. Researchers found that people experienced more episodes of rapid heartbeat (over 100 beats per minute) when they were resting or doing very little, but surprisingly had fewer of these episodes during moderate-to-vigorous exercise. This suggests that the relationship between activity and heart rate in long COVID may be more complex than previously thought.
Understanding heart rate responses to activity in post-COVID and ME/CFS populations is critical for developing safe rehabilitation protocols, as inappropriate exercise recommendations can worsen symptoms. This finding challenges assumptions about post-exertional malaise and heart rate patterns, potentially informing more nuanced clinical guidelines for activity management in these conditions.
This study cannot establish cause-and-effect relationships or explain why tachycardia occurs more during rest than activity. The small sample size and short duration limit generalizability, and the findings do not prove that moderate exercise is safe or beneficial for all people with PCC/ME/CFS, nor do they address post-exertional malaise that may occur after activity cessation.
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
Adodo, Rachel, Sarmento Da Nobrega, Antonio, Villar, Rodrigo, Webber, Sandra C, & Sanchez-Ramirez, Diana C (2026). Associations between heart rate and physical activity in people with post-COVID-19 condition accounting for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms.. Journal of rehabilitation medicine. https://doi.org/10.2340/jrm.v58.43340
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-adodo-2026-associations-between,
author = {Adodo, Rachel and Sarmento Da Nobrega, Antonio and Villar, Rodrigo and Webber, Sandra C and Sanchez-Ramirez, Diana C},
title = {Associations between heart rate and physical activity in people with post-COVID-19 condition accounting for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms.},
journal = {Journal of rehabilitation medicine},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.2340/jrm.v58.43340},
note = {PubMed: 41601198},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/adodo-2026-associations-between},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/adodo-2026-associations-between
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