Mirfazeli, Fatemeh Sadat, Sarabi-Jamab, Atiye, Pereira-Sanchez, Victor et al. · Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2022 · DOI
This study followed 95 COVID-19 patients for 9 months to see which ones developed long-COVID symptoms like fatigue and brain fog. The most common symptom was extreme tiredness (affecting about half the patients), followed by anxiety, shortness of breath, and headaches. Interestingly, how sick someone was during acute COVID didn't predict whether they'd have long-COVID problems—but certain early warning signs (like psychiatric symptoms during the acute phase) did predict who would develop chronic fatigue and memory problems later.
This research identifies potential biomarkers and risk factors for post-viral fatigue syndromes emerging after COVID-19, which is relevant for ME/CFS patients since long-COVID-associated fatigue resembles ME/CFS. Understanding that early neuropsychiatric symptoms predict later chronic fatigue and cognitive impairment could help clinicians identify high-risk patients and tailor early interventions. The findings suggest that post-viral fatigue mechanisms may relate to early CNS involvement rather than acute disease severity.
This study does not prove that psychiatric symptoms during acute illness *cause* chronic fatigue or cognitive deficits—only that they are associated. The lack of a control group limits generalizability. Additionally, the study cannot determine why acute neuropsychiatric symptoms predict later CFS, nor does it clarify the biological mechanisms underlying post-COVID fatigue. Cognitive decline is measured only by MoCA, which may not detect subtle cognitive changes relevant to ME/CFS.
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
Mirfazeli, Fatemeh Sadat, Sarabi-Jamab, Atiye, Pereira-Sanchez, Victor, Kordi, Alireza, Shariati, Behnam, Shariat, Seyed Vahid, et al. (2022). Chronic fatigue syndrome and cognitive deficit are associated with acute-phase neuropsychiatric manifestations of COVID-19: A 9-month follow-up study.. Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-021-05786-y
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-mirfazeli-2022-chronic-fatigue,
author = {Mirfazeli, Fatemeh Sadat and Sarabi-Jamab, Atiye and Pereira-Sanchez, Victor and Kordi, Alireza and Shariati, Behnam and Shariat, Seyed Vahid and Bahrami, Salar and Nohesara, Shabnam and Almasi-Dooghaee, Mostafa and Faiz, Seyed Hamid Reza},
title = {Chronic fatigue syndrome and cognitive deficit are associated with acute-phase neuropsychiatric manifestations of COVID-19: A 9-month follow-up study.},
journal = {Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1007/s10072-021-05786-y},
note = {PubMed: 35059902},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mirfazeli-2022-chronic-fatigue},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mirfazeli-2022-chronic-fatigue
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.