Konkle, Stacey L, Magleby, Reed, Bonacci, Robert A et al. · Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2025 · DOI
This study looked at nearly 30% of people who had COVID-19 in 2020 and developed long-term symptoms afterward (post-COVID condition). Among those with ongoing symptoms, about 77% had not fully recovered to their pre-COVID health 2-15 months later. The researchers found that certain symptom patterns—especially fatigue similar to ME/CFS, upper respiratory problems, and digestive issues—were most strongly linked to prolonged recovery.
This study provides crucial epidemiological evidence that ME/CFS-like symptoms represent a distinct, clinically significant cluster in post-COVID conditions and are among the strongest predictors of prolonged disability. Understanding symptom clustering patterns may help identify biological pathways relevant to both post-COVID and primary ME/CFS, and could improve patient stratification for future treatment trials.
This study cannot establish causation or mechanisms underlying symptom clustering—it demonstrates association only. The cross-sectional design means it cannot determine whether symptom clusters drive poor recovery or reflect severity of underlying pathology. Results are specific to the 2020 pre-Delta variant period and may not apply to later variants or vaccinated populations.
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
Konkle, Stacey L, Magleby, Reed, Bonacci, Robert A, Segaloff, Hannah E, Dimitrov, Lina V, Mahale, Parag, et al. (2025). Post-COVID-19 Condition Risk Factors and Symptom Clusters and Associations With Return to Pre-COVID-19 Health-Results From a 2021 Multistate Survey.. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciae632
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-konkle-2025-post-covid,
author = {Konkle, Stacey L and Magleby, Reed and Bonacci, Robert A and Segaloff, Hannah E and Dimitrov, Lina V and Mahale, Parag and Katic, Bozena and Nji, Miriam and Cadwell, Betsy and Ko, Jean Y and Bushman, Dena and Rushmore, Julie and Cope, Jennifer and Saydah, Sharon},
title = {Post-COVID-19 Condition Risk Factors and Symptom Clusters and Associations With Return to Pre-COVID-19 Health-Results From a 2021 Multistate Survey.},
journal = {Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1093/cid/ciae632},
note = {PubMed: 39705503},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/konkle-2025-post-covid},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/konkle-2025-post-covid
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.