Thomas, Marie · International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022 · DOI
This study compared fatigue and related symptoms in 26 people experiencing Long COVID with two groups: people without fatigue and people with ME/CFS. The Long COVID group reported severe fatigue, brain fog, sleep problems, and difficulty concentrating—similar to what people with ME/CFS experience. The findings suggest Long COVID and ME/CFS may share some common features.
This study provides evidence that Long COVID fatigue closely resembles ME/CFS in both symptom severity and psychological burden, suggesting shared pathophysiological mechanisms. Understanding these similarities could help researchers identify risk factors for persistent post-viral fatigue and inform treatment approaches applicable to both conditions.
This study does not prove that Long COVID and ME/CFS are the same condition or that they share identical biological causes—it only shows symptom overlap. The cross-sectional design cannot determine whether fatigue severity predicts long-term disability or whether specific symptoms cause others. The small, self-selected sample limits whether findings apply to the broader Long COVID population.
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
Thomas, Marie (2022). The Fatigue-Related Symptoms Post-Acute SARS-CoV-2: A Preliminary Comparative Study.. International journal of environmental research and public health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811662
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-thomas-2022-fatigue-related,
author = {Thomas, Marie},
title = {The Fatigue-Related Symptoms Post-Acute SARS-CoV-2: A Preliminary Comparative Study.},
journal = {International journal of environmental research and public health},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.3390/ijerph191811662},
note = {PubMed: 36141935},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/thomas-2022-fatigue-related},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/thomas-2022-fatigue-related
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