Chudzik, Michał, Lewek, Joanna, Kapusta, Joanna et al. · Journal of clinical medicine · 2022 · DOI
This study followed 488 people without serious health conditions after they recovered from COVID-19 to see who developed Long COVID symptoms. Researchers found that people who had a severe acute COVID-19 illness, higher body weight, and joint pain during their initial infection were more likely to develop Long COVID. About 45% of those who developed Long COVID had symptoms that persisted beyond the follow-up period.
Understanding who is most vulnerable to Long COVID in the absence of pre-existing disease helps identify preventive strategies and clinical risk factors. For ME/CFS researchers, identifying that severe acute infection, metabolic factors, and specific symptom profiles predict Long COVID may reveal shared pathophysiological mechanisms relevant to post-infectious ME/CFS.
This study does not prove that BMI, severity, or arthralgia cause Long COVID—only that they are statistically associated with increased risk. The study focused on cardiovascular and general symptoms but did not systematically assess post-exertional malaise or cognitive dysfunction, limiting generalizability to ME/CFS definitions. The findings apply only to previously healthy individuals and may not predict Long COVID outcomes in those with pre-existing conditions.
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
Chudzik, Michał, Lewek, Joanna, Kapusta, Joanna, Banach, Maciej, Jankowski, Piotr, & Bielecka-Dabrowa, Agata (2022). Predictors of Long COVID in Patients without Comorbidities: Data from the Polish Long-COVID Cardiovascular (PoLoCOV-CVD) Study.. Journal of clinical medicine. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11174980
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-chudzik-2022-predictors-long,
author = {Chudzik, Michał and Lewek, Joanna and Kapusta, Joanna and Banach, Maciej and Jankowski, Piotr and Bielecka-Dabrowa, Agata},
title = {Predictors of Long COVID in Patients without Comorbidities: Data from the Polish Long-COVID Cardiovascular (PoLoCOV-CVD) Study.},
journal = {Journal of clinical medicine},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.3390/jcm11174980},
note = {PubMed: 36078910},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/chudzik-2022-predictors-long},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/chudzik-2022-predictors-long
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