Chronic fatigue syndrome: An emerging sequela in COVID-19 survivors?, by Elisa Mantovani, Sara Mariotto, Daniele Gabbiani, Gianluigi Dorelli, Silvia Bozzetti, Angela Federico, Serena Zanzoni, Domenico Girelli, Ernesto Crisafulli, Sergio Ferrari, Stefano Tamburin in Journal of NeuroVirology August 2, 2021

Research abstract:

SARS-CoV-2 survivors may report persistent symptoms that resemble myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

We explored (a) ME/CFS-like symptom prevalence and (b) whether axonal, inflammatory, and/or lung changes may contribute to ME/CFS-like symptoms in SARS-CoV-2 survivors through clinical, neuropsychiatric, neuropsychological, lung function assessment, and serum neurofilament light chain, an axonal damage biomarker.

ME/CFS-like features were found in 27% of our sample.

ME/CFS-like group showed worse sleep quality, fatigue, pain, depressive symptoms, subjective cognitive complaints, Borg baseline dyspnea of the 6-min walking test vs. those without ME/CFS-like symptoms. These preliminary findings raise concern on a possible future ME/CFS-like pandemic in SARS-CoV-2 survivors.