Gebetsroither, Patrick, Ettenauer, Thomas, Likar, Rudolf · Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2026 · DOI
Researchers tested a treatment called auricular vagus nerve stimulation (mild electrical stimulation applied to the ear) in 9 patients with long COVID symptoms. After 4 weeks of treatment, patients reported improvement in 28 out of 35 symptoms they were tracked for, with particular benefits for pain, fatigue, exhaustion after activity, sleep problems, and heart/blood pressure irregularities. Many of these improvements lasted when patients were checked again 12 weeks later.
Long COVID remains poorly understood and lacks approved treatments; this study suggests vagus nerve stimulation may help manage multiple core ME/CFS-like symptoms simultaneously. The finding that benefits persisted at 12-week follow-up warrants further investigation into this non-pharmacological approach. For ME/CFS patients seeking treatment options, this provides preliminary evidence that may inform discussions with healthcare providers.
This study does not prove that auricular vagus nerve stimulation is an effective long COVID or ME/CFS treatment. The lack of a control group means improvements could result from placebo effect, natural recovery, or other factors unrelated to the stimulation. The very small sample size (n=9) and retrospective design mean results may not apply to other patient populations and cannot establish that the treatment caused the improvements.
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 →
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