Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33652622›Full record

ArticleMedicina (Kaunas, Lithuania)2021

Our Evolving Understanding of ME/CFS.

Kenneth J Friedman, Modra Murovska, Derek F H Pheby, Paweł Zalewski

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
3.6field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Review
  9. Long COVID in Children: A Multidisciplinary Review.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023
    Review
  10. Review
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Assessing sleep and pain among adults with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: psychometric evaluation of the PROMIS® sleep and pain short forms.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2022
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Turning a Corner in ME/CFS Research.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021
    Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.

Kenneth J FriedmanDepartment of Pharmacology and Physiology, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5735-5855
Modra MurovskaInstitute of Microbiology and Virology, Riga Stradiņš University, LV-1067 Riga, Latvia.ORCID 0000-0003-0971-1784
Derek F H PhebySociety and Health, Buckinghamshire New University, High Wycombe HP11 2JZ, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-1726-0717
Paweł ZalewskiDepartment of Hygiene, Epidemiology, Ergonomy and Postgraduate Education, Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, M. Sklodowskiej-Curie 9, 85-094 Bydgoszcz, Poland.ORCID 0000-0001-8453-7785
Buckinghamshire New University · GBNicolaus Copernicus University · PLRiga Stradiņš University · LVRutgers, The State University of New Jersey · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The potential benefits of the scientific insights gleaned from years of treating ME/CFS for the emerging symptoms of COVID-19, and in particular Longhaul- or Longhauler-COVID-19 are discussed in this opinion article. Longhaul COVID-19 is the current name being given to the long-term sequelae (symptoms lasting beyond 6 weeks) of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Multiple case definitions for ME/CFS exist, but post-exertional malaise (PEM) is currently emerging as the 'hallmark' symptom. The inability to identify a unique trigger of ME/CFS, as well as the inability to identify a specific, diagnostic laboratory test, led many physicians to conclude that the illness was psychosomatic or non-existent. However, recent research in the US and the UK, championed by patient organizations and their use of the internet and social media, suggest underlying pathophysiologies, e.g., oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. The similarity and overlap of ME/CFS and Longhaul COVID-19 symptoms suggest to us similar pathological processes. We put forward a unifying hypothesis that explains the precipitating events such as viral triggers and other documented exposures: For their overlap in symptoms, ME/CFS and Longhaul COVID-19 should be described as Post Active Phase of Infection Syndromes (PAPIS). We further propose that the underlying biochemical pathways and pathophysiological processes of similar symptoms are similar regardless of the initiating trigger. Exploration of the biochemical pathways and pathophysiological processes should yield effective therapies for these conditions and others that may exhibit these symptoms. ME/CFS patients have suffered far too long. Longhaul COVD-19 patients should not be subject to a similar fate. We caution that failure to meet the now combined challenges of ME/CFS and Longhaul COVID-19 will impose serious socioeconomic as well as clinical consequences for patients, the families of patients, and society as a whole.

Indexed as

SARS-CoV-2COVID-19Fatigue Syndrome, ChronicHumansTimeLonghaul COVID-19ME/CFSpathophysiology

Identifiers

PMID33652622
PMCPMC7996879
OpenAlexW3130732683

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.