van Campen, C Linda M C, Visser, Frans C · Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022 · DOI
This study compared patients with long-haul COVID to two groups of ME/CFS patients (those who got sick after Epstein-Barr virus infection and those who became ill gradually) to understand a common symptom called orthostatic intolerance—dizziness or fainting when standing up. Researchers found that long-haul COVID patients had similar symptoms and physical responses to standing as ME/CFS patients, and all three groups showed comparable problems with blood flow and heart function during the standing test. The findings suggest that long-haul COVID and ME/CFS may be essentially the same underlying condition.
This research provides objective physiological evidence that long-haul COVID and ME/CFS share nearly identical orthostatic dysfunction mechanisms, which could unify clinical understanding and treatment approaches for both conditions. Demonstrating comparable pathophysiology validates that long-haul COVID patients' experiences are not psychogenic and deserve the same medical recognition and research attention as ME/CFS. The findings suggest that insights about one condition may directly apply to the other.
This study does not establish causality or prove that long-haul COVID definitively causes the same pathophysiological process as ME/CFS—it only shows similar outcomes on specific tests. The small sample size (14 per group) limits generalizability, and the findings cannot determine whether the diseases share identical underlying mechanisms or merely produce similar end-stage manifestations. The 100% POTS prevalence in long-haul COVID compared to lower rates in ME/CFS groups actually suggests potential differences that warrant further investigation.
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
van Campen, C Linda M C & Visser, Frans C (2022). Orthostatic Intolerance in Long-Haul COVID after SARS-CoV-2: A Case-Control Comparison with Post-EBV and Insidious-Onset Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients.. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10102058
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-van-campen-2022-orthostatic-intolerance,
author = {van Campen, C Linda M C and Visser, Frans C},
title = {Orthostatic Intolerance in Long-Haul COVID after SARS-CoV-2: A Case-Control Comparison with Post-EBV and Insidious-Onset Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients.},
journal = {Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland)},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.3390/healthcare10102058},
note = {PubMed: 36292504},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-campen-2022-orthostatic-intolerance},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-campen-2022-orthostatic-intolerance
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