Hadidchi, Roham, Patel, Bhakti, Madan, Japji et al. · Journal of translational medicine · 2025 · DOI
This study found that people who had COVID-19 are more likely to develop ME/CFS in the years following infection compared to people who never had COVID-19. Women, and people with existing autoimmune or anxiety disorders, appear to be at higher risk. Importantly, having COVID-19 again did not increase the risk further, and blood tests during acute COVID were not able to predict who would later develop ME/CFS.
This study provides long-term epidemiological evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infection is a significant risk factor for ME/CFS development, which is critical for post-COVID care guidelines and identifying vulnerable populations. Understanding risk factors helps clinicians screen and monitor high-risk patients, while the finding that certain comorbidities increase susceptibility may inform future mechanistic research into ME/CFS pathogenesis.
This observational study cannot establish causation definitively; unmeasured confounding variables may explain some associations. The mechanism by which COVID-19 leads to ME/CFS remains unclear, and the unexpected vaccination finding requires replication and mechanistic investigation before drawing conclusions. Additionally, the study did not assess post-COVID syndrome severity or distinguish CFS/ME from other forms of prolonged fatigue.
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
Hadidchi, Roham, Patel, Bhakti, Madan, Japji, Liu, Alex, Henry, Sonya, & Duong, Tim Q (2025). Elevated risk of new-onset chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis up to four years after SARS-CoV-2 infection.. Journal of translational medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-025-06625-w
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-hadidchi-2025-elevated-risk,
author = {Hadidchi, Roham and Patel, Bhakti and Madan, Japji and Liu, Alex and Henry, Sonya and Duong, Tim Q},
title = {Elevated risk of new-onset chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis up to four years after SARS-CoV-2 infection.},
journal = {Journal of translational medicine},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1186/s12967-025-06625-w},
note = {PubMed: 40702518},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hadidchi-2025-elevated-risk},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hadidchi-2025-elevated-risk
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