Cornelissen, Merel E B, Bloemsma, Lizan D, Vaes, Anouk W et al. · Journal of translational medicine · 2024 · DOI
This study followed 95 Dutch patients with long COVID for up to 18 months after their initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. Most patients experienced persistent fatigue, along with sleep problems, pain, and cognitive difficulties. Interestingly, over half of these patients met the diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS, and their symptom patterns resembled those seen in people with ME/CFS.
This study is significant because it demonstrates that post-COVID-19 condition shares substantial clinical and symptomatic overlap with ME/CFS, suggesting common pathophysiological mechanisms. Understanding these connections may accelerate research into both conditions and inform diagnostic and management strategies for patients experiencing prolonged fatigue and multi-system symptoms.
This study does not prove that post-COVID-19 and ME/CFS are identical conditions or share the same underlying causes—only that symptom patterns overlap. The observational design cannot establish causality or explain why some individuals develop these symptoms while others recover. Results may not generalize to younger patients, older patients, or populations outside the Netherlands.
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
Cornelissen, Merel E B, Bloemsma, Lizan D, Vaes, Anouk W, Baalbaki, Nadia, Deng, Qichen, Beijers, Rosanne J H C G, et al. (2024). Fatigue and symptom-based clusters in post COVID-19 patients: a multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study.. Journal of translational medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-024-04979-1
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-cornelissen-2024-fatigue-symptom,
author = {Cornelissen, Merel E B and Bloemsma, Lizan D and Vaes, Anouk W and Baalbaki, Nadia and Deng, Qichen and Beijers, Rosanne J H C G and Noij, Lieke C E and Houweling, Laura and Bazdar, Somayeh and Spruit, Martijn A and Maitland-van der Zee, Anke H and the P4O2 Consortium},
title = {Fatigue and symptom-based clusters in post COVID-19 patients: a multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study.},
journal = {Journal of translational medicine},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1186/s12967-024-04979-1},
note = {PubMed: 38383493},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cornelissen-2024-fatigue-symptom},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cornelissen-2024-fatigue-symptom
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