Havdal, Lise Beier, Berven, Lise Lund, Selvakumar, Joel et al. · Frontiers in neurology · 2022 · DOI
This study looked at young people (ages 12-25) who had COVID-19 but were not hospitalized, comparing them to people who didn't have COVID-19. Researchers found that COVID-19 patients reported more fatigue and post-exertional malaise (PEM)—a worsening of symptoms after physical activity—and had slightly elevated markers of brain injury in their blood. However, their thinking and memory abilities tested normally, and the blood markers didn't directly correlate with their symptoms.
This study documents that non-severe COVID-19 can produce biomarkers of brain injury alongside fatigue and post-exertional malaise—symptoms central to ME/CFS—in young people, suggesting potential biological underpinnings for post-COVID conditions. Understanding whether and how COVID-19 causes ME/CFS-like illness requires identifying objective markers and mechanisms, which this work partially addresses. The findings may inform clinical recognition and investigation of post-COVID fatigue syndromes that resemble ME/CFS.
This study does not prove that elevated brain injury markers *cause* fatigue or PEM, nor does it demonstrate that post-COVID fatigue represents true ME/CFS or that it will persist long-term—these are baseline cross-sectional findings without longitudinal follow-up data. The absence of correlations between biomarkers and symptoms does not rule out pathological involvement; it may reflect measurement limitations or different temporal relationships between injury and symptoms. The study also does not establish diagnostic criteria for post-COVID ME/CFS or explain why only some individuals develop these symptoms.
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
Havdal, Lise Beier, Berven, Lise Lund, Selvakumar, Joel, Stiansen-Sonerud, Tonje, Leegaard, Truls Michael, Tjade, Trygve, et al. (2022). Neurological Involvement in COVID-19 Among Non-Hospitalized Adolescents and Young Adults.. Frontiers in neurology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2022.915712
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-havdal-2022-neurological-involvement,
author = {Havdal, Lise Beier and Berven, Lise Lund and Selvakumar, Joel and Stiansen-Sonerud, Tonje and Leegaard, Truls Michael and Tjade, Trygve and Zetterberg, Henrik and Blennow, Kaj and Wyller, Vegard Bruun Bratholm},
title = {Neurological Involvement in COVID-19 Among Non-Hospitalized Adolescents and Young Adults.},
journal = {Frontiers in neurology},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.3389/fneur.2022.915712},
note = {PubMed: 35812102},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/havdal-2022-neurological-involvement},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/havdal-2022-neurological-involvement
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.