Dehlia, Ankush, Guthridge, Mark A · The Journal of infection · 2024 · DOI
Researchers looked at studies of people with Long COVID to see how many also meet the diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS. They found that about half of Long COVID patients have symptoms that match ME/CFS, including severe fatigue, sleep problems, muscle and joint pain, and post-exertional malaise (feeling much worse after physical activity). This suggests that Long COVID and ME/CFS may be very similar conditions, at least in some patients.
This study helps clarify the relationship between Long COVID and ME/CFS, suggesting they may represent overlapping conditions or that Long COVID can trigger ME/CFS in some patients. Understanding that half of Long COVID patients may have ME/CFS could improve clinical recognition, treatment approaches, and ensure affected patients access appropriate supportive care and research opportunities designed for ME/CFS.
This study does not prove that Long COVID causes ME/CFS, only that the symptom clusters overlap significantly. It also does not establish whether the underlying biological mechanisms in Long COVID-associated ME/CFS are identical to ME/CFS from other viral triggers. The analysis is limited by variations in how ME/CFS was diagnosed across different studies and does not account for potential differences in symptom severity or disease progression.
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
Dehlia, Ankush & Guthridge, Mark A (2024). The persistence of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) after SARS-CoV-2 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis.. The Journal of infection. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2024.106297
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-dehlia-2024-persistence-myalgic,
author = {Dehlia, Ankush and Guthridge, Mark A},
title = {The persistence of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) after SARS-CoV-2 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis.},
journal = {The Journal of infection},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1016/j.jinf.2024.106297},
note = {PubMed: 39353473},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/dehlia-2024-persistence-myalgic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/dehlia-2024-persistence-myalgic
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