Meyerson, William U, Hoyle, Rick H · PloS one · 2023 · DOI
This study found that people with ME/CFS who were active on online support forums before the COVID-19 pandemic were much more likely to later join long COVID support forums than people from other health communities. By examining nearly 7,500 Reddit users, researchers discovered that previous ME/CFS forum activity was the strongest predictor of who would participate in long COVID communities. People shared that they joined both communities to find support from others with similar experiences and because they hoped long COVID's increased public attention might help validate ME/CFS as a real illness.
This research highlights the substantial overlap between ME/CFS and long COVID populations and validates long-standing concerns from ME/CFS patients about disease recognition and medical legitimacy. The study demonstrates how long COVID's emerging public awareness offers ME/CFS patients hope for validation, while simultaneously revealing the isolation many ME/CFS patients have experienced. Understanding these overlapping communities can help healthcare providers better support both populations and may provide clues about shared disease mechanisms.
This study demonstrates correlation, not causation—it does not prove that ME/CFS causes long COVID or vice versa, only that the conditions co-occur in some individuals. The observational design cannot establish whether pre-existing ME/CFS is a true risk factor for long COVID, nor can it determine the direction of causality in cases where both conditions are present. Selection bias from studying only online forum users means findings may not represent all ME/CFS or long COVID patients.
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
Meyerson, William U & Hoyle, Rick H (2023). Pre-pandemic activity on a myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome support forum is highly associated with later activity on a long COVID support forum for a variety of reasons: A mixed methods study.. PloS one. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291173
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-meyerson-2023-pre-pandemic,
author = {Meyerson, William U and Hoyle, Rick H},
title = {Pre-pandemic activity on a myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome support forum is highly associated with later activity on a long COVID support forum for a variety of reasons: A mixed methods study.},
journal = {PloS one},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0291173},
note = {PubMed: 37682908},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/meyerson-2023-pre-pandemic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/meyerson-2023-pre-pandemic
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.