Sanal-Hayes, Nilihan E M, Hayes, Lawrence D, Mclaughlin, Marie et al. · The American journal of medicine · 2025 · DOI
This study tested hand coordination and fine motor skills in people with long COVID and ME/CFS using a simple pegboard task where participants place small pegs into holes as quickly and accurately as possible. Both patient groups performed similarly to each other but notably worse than healthy people, suggesting that problems with hand coordination and dexterity are common to both conditions. The findings highlight that these motor difficulties deserve specific medical attention and treatment in both long COVID and ME/CFS patients.
This is the first direct comparison of motor coordination between long COVID and ME/CFS patients, providing evidence that these conditions share similar neuromotor impairments. Identifying comparable motor dysfunction in both conditions strengthens the biological basis for understanding these illnesses and creates an urgent case for developing targeted rehabilitation interventions for motor difficulties that have previously received limited clinical attention.
This study does not establish the mechanisms causing impaired dexterity or prove that motor deficits are caused by the same underlying pathology in both conditions. The cross-sectional design cannot determine whether motor impairment develops early or late in illness, worsens over time, or responds to any specific interventions. Sample sizes are relatively modest, limiting statistical power.
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 →
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