Weigel, Breanna, Eaton-Fitch, Natalie, Thapaliya, Kiran et al. · Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2024 · DOI
This study compared people with ME/CFS and people with Long COVID to understand how their symptoms affect quality of life and daily functioning. Researchers found that both groups experience similar symptom patterns, particularly autonomic symptoms like breathing problems, which have the biggest impact on wellbeing. The findings suggest that Long COVID and ME/CFS may be closely related conditions, and that some people recovering from COVID-19 may develop ME/CFS-like illness over time.
This study identifies autonomic dysfunction, especially breathing difficulties, as a key driver of disability in ME/CFS and suggests Long COVID may progress to ME/CFS-like illness. Since ME/CFS causes severe disability and reduced quality of life, recognizing which PCC patients develop ME/CFS phenotypes could enable earlier intervention and appropriate clinical management for both conditions.
This study does not establish causation or prove that Long COVID directly causes ME/CFS; it only shows associations between symptoms and outcomes at a single time point. The cross-sectional design cannot determine whether symptom clusters represent disease stages or distinct subtypes. The findings also cannot explain the biological mechanisms driving autonomic symptoms or why some PCC patients develop ME/CFS-like presentations while others do not.
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
Weigel, Breanna, Eaton-Fitch, Natalie, Thapaliya, Kiran, & Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya (2024). A pilot cross-sectional investigation of symptom clusters and associations with patient-reported outcomes in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Post COVID-19 Condition.. Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-024-03794-x
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-weigel-2024-pilot-cross,
author = {Weigel, Breanna and Eaton-Fitch, Natalie and Thapaliya, Kiran and Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya},
title = {A pilot cross-sectional investigation of symptom clusters and associations with patient-reported outcomes in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Post COVID-19 Condition.},
journal = {Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1007/s11136-024-03794-x},
note = {PubMed: 39361124},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/weigel-2024-pilot-cross},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/weigel-2024-pilot-cross
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