Risk for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Higher After COVID-19

THURSDAY, Jan. 16, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The risk for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is increased following COVID-19, according to a study published online Jan. 13 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Suzanne D. Vernon, Ph.D., from the Bateman Horne Center in Salt Lake City, and colleagues estimated the incidence and prevalence of post-COVID-19 ME/CFS among adults enrolled in the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery study. The analysis included 4,515 acute infected, enrolled within 30 days of infection or enrolled as uninfected who became infected; 7,270 post-acute infected, enrolled >30 days after infection; and 1,439 uninfected participants.

The researchers found that the incidence rate of ME/CFS in participants followed from time of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was 2.66 per 100 person-years compared with 0.93 per 100 person-years in matched uninfected participants (hazard ratio, 4.93). Overall, the proportion of participants who met criteria for ME/CFS following SARS-CoV-2 infection was 4.5 percent versus 0.6 percent in uninfected participants. The most common ME/CFS symptom in infected participants was post-exertional malaise (24.0 percent). Most post-COVID participants with ME/CFS also met criteria for long COVID (88.7 percent).

“These post-pandemic prevalence rates are in contrast to pre-pandemic ME/CFS prevalence estimates, which ranged from 0.2 to 1.0 percent of people in the United States and is in line with what we found in uninfected participants,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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