ArticlePloS one2024
Impact of COVID-19 on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome-like illness prevalence: A cross-sectional survey.
Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Depression, but Not Fatigue, Improves as Part of Multimodal Post-COVID Rehabilitation.Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2026Article
- Burden of Disease in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A Scoping Review.Applied health economics and health policy · 2026Article
- Neuroimmune pathophysiology of long COVID.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025Review
- Symptomatic Trends and Time to Recovery for Long COVID Patients Infected During the Omicron Phase.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Assessing the Relationship in Symptomology of Myalgic Encephalitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long COVID.American journal of medicine open · 2025Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the 2021 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Guidelines on Public Perspectives Toward Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Thematic and Sentiment Analysis on Twitter (Rebranded as X).Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Plasma cell targeting with the anti-CD38 antibody daratumumab in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome-a clinical pilot study.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
15 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundMyalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) can be triggered by infectious agents including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on ME/CFS prevalence is not well characterized.
methodsIn this population-based cross-sectional study, we enrolled a stratified random sample of 9,825 adult participants in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) integrated health system from July to October 2022 to assess overall ME/CFS-like illness prevalence and the proportion that were identified following COVID-19 illness. We used medical record and survey data to estimate the prevalence of ME/CFS-like illness based on self-reported symptoms congruent with the 2015 Institute of Medicine ME/CFS criteria. History of COVID-19 was based on a positive SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification test or ICD-10 diagnosis code in the medical record, or self-report of prior COVID-19 on a survey.
resultsOf 2,745,374 adults in the eligible population, an estimated 45,892 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 32,869, 58,914) or 1.67% (CI 1.20%, 2.15%) had ME/CFS-like illness. Among those with ME/CFS-like illness, an estimated 14.12% (CI 3.64%, 24.6%) developed the illness after COVID-19. Among persons who had COVID-19, those with ME/CFS-like illness after COVID-19 were more likely to be unvaccinated and to have had COVID-19 before June 1, 2021. All persons with ME/CFS-like illness had significant impairment in physical, mental, emotional, social, and occupational functioning compared to persons without ME/CFS-like illness.
conclusionsIn a large, integrated health system, 1.67% of adults had ME/CFS-like illness and 14.12% of all persons with ME/CFS-like illness developed it after COVID-19. Though COVID-19 did not substantially increase ME/CFS-like illness in the KPNC population during the study time period, ME/CFS-like illness nevertheless affects a notable portion of this population and is consistent with estimates of ME/CFS prevalence in other populations. Additional attention is needed to improve awareness, diagnosis, and treatment of ME/CFS.
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