Dixit, Neal M, Churchill, Austin, Nsair, Ali et al. · American heart journal plus : cardiology research and practice · 2021 · DOI
Some people who have had COVID-19 develop long-lasting symptoms weeks or months later, including chest pain and heart palpitations (feeling your heart racing). This review examines what we know about how COVID-19 affects the heart during this long-COVID period. While the virus itself rarely causes direct heart damage, it can trigger several heart-related conditions that may explain why patients experience these symptoms.
This work is relevant to ME/CFS because many long-COVID patients report orthostatic symptoms and cardiac manifestations similar to those seen in ME/CFS, and understanding post-viral cardiovascular dysfunction may illuminate shared pathophysiological mechanisms. A clearer framework for evaluating and managing cardiac symptoms in post-viral syndromes could improve clinical care and reduce diagnostic delays for patients with persistent unexplained symptoms.
This review does not establish causation between SARS-CoV-2 and specific cardiovascular syndromes, nor does it quantify prevalence of individual cardiac conditions in PACS. The review does not prove that mechanisms underlying cardiovascular symptoms in long-COVID are identical to ME/CFS, nor does it provide evidence-based diagnostic criteria or treatment protocols validated in randomized controlled trials.
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
Dixit, Neal M, Churchill, Austin, Nsair, Ali, & Hsu, Jeffrey J (2021). Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome and the cardiovascular system: What is known?. American heart journal plus : cardiology research and practice. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahjo.2021.100025
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-dixit-2021-post-acute,
author = {Dixit, Neal M and Churchill, Austin and Nsair, Ali and Hsu, Jeffrey J},
title = {Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome and the cardiovascular system: What is known?},
journal = {American heart journal plus : cardiology research and practice},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.1016/j.ahjo.2021.100025},
note = {PubMed: 34192289},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/dixit-2021-post-acute},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/dixit-2021-post-acute
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