ArticleClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2021
Risks for Developing Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in College Students Following Infectious Mononucleosis: A Prospective Cohort Study.
Article in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Recent research in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: an evidence map.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A Review of Recent Evidence and Future Research Directions Toward the Elucidation of a Metabolic, Immunologic, and Signaling Cascade.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Risk factors for severe post-COVID condition in children, adolescents, and young adults.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Observational
- ICD-10 Diagnoses prior to ME/CFS diagnosis in children and young people suggest potential early diagnostic indicators.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Outcomes of ME/CFS following infectious mononucleosis: seven-year follow-up of a prospective study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Does Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Represent a Poly-Herpesvirus Post-Virus Infectious Disease?Viruses · 2025Review
- Reframing Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): Biological Basis of Disease and Recommendations for Supporting Patients.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Predisposing and Precipitating Factors in Epstein-Barr Virus-Caused Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Risk factors for fatigue severity in the post-COVID-19 condition: A prospective controlled cohort study of nonhospitalised adolescents and young adults.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Long-term Effects of COVID-19 on Sleep PatternsThoracic research and practice · 2025Article
- Core features and inherent diversity of post-acute infection syndromes.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Review
- Inflammatory Markers in Children and Adolescents with Functional Somatic Disorders: A Systematic Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Pediatric and adult patients with ME/CFS following COVID-19: A structured approach to diagnosis using the Munich Berlin Symptom Questionnaire (MBSQ).European journal of pediatrics · 2024Article
- Joint Flexibility and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome After Mononucleosis.Clinical therapeutics · 2024Article
- Why the Psychosomatic View on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Is Inconsistent with Current Evidence and Harmful to Patients.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- What Long COVID investigators can learn from four decades of ME/CFS research.Brain behavior and immunity integrative · 2023Article
- Challenges to delivering evidence-based management for long COVID.BMJ evidence-based medicine · 2023Article
- Cytokine network analysis in a community-based pediatric sample of patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.Chronic illness · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMyalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) involves severe fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, and cognitive impairment, leading to functional difficulties; prior studies have not evaluated risk factors with behavioral and immune data collected before developing ME/CFS. Up to 5% of university students develop infectious mononucleosis (IM) annually, and 9-12% meet criteria for ME/CFS 6 months later. We sought to determine predictors of ME/CFS.
methodsWe enrolled college students at the start of the school year (time 1), identified those who developed IM (time 2), and followed them for 6 months (time 3), identifying 3 groups: those who developed ME/CFS, severe ME/CFS (meeting >1 set of criteria), and who were asymptomatic. We conducted 8 behavioral and psychological surveys and analyzed cytokines at 3 time points.
results238 of the 4501 students (5.3%) developed IM; 6 months later, 55 of the 238 (23%) met criteria for ME/CFS and 157 (66%) were asymptomatic. 67 of the 157 asymptomatic students served as controls. Students with severe ME/CFS were compared with students who were asymptomatic at 3 time points. The former group was not different from the latter group at time 1 (prior to developing IM) in stress, coping, anxiety, or depression but were different in several behavioral measures and had significantly lower levels of IL-6 and IL-13. At time 2 (when they developed IM), the 2 ME/CFS groups tended to have more autonomic complaints and behavioral symptoms while the severe-ME/CFS group had higher levels of IL-12 and lower levels of IL-13 than the recovered group.
conclusionsAt baseline, those who developed ME/CFS had more physical symptoms and immune irregularities, but not more psychological symptoms, than those who recovered.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.