Observational studyJournal of general internal medicine2025
Incidence and Prevalence of Post-COVID-19 Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: A Report from the Observational RECOVER-Adult Study.
Observational study in Journal of general internal medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Between silence and solutions: a global guideline review of long COVID care and services in Australia.BMC health services research · 2026Pooled it
- Potential application of brain-gut axis-based treatments in Long COVID and ME/CFS: a case-based systematic review.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Low serum selenium combined with SELENOP-autoantibodies are associated with persistent fatigue after SARS-CoV-2 infection.Redox biology · 2026Article
- Microvascular remodeling and endothelial dysfunction across the post-COVID-19 spectrum: a prospective observational case-control study.BMC medicine · 2026Observational
- Article
- Article
- Post-COVID-19 Condition in Swiss Healthcare: Disparities in Access, Delays in Care, and Patient Burden.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Sustained Reduction in Cardiopulmonary Fitness in Long COVID: A Report from the RECOVER-adult Cohort Study.JACC. Advances · 2026Article
- Fatigue-associated gut bacteria in Japanese healthy adults characterized by metagenomic analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Long covid and general practice: a survey of patients in the Republic of Ireland.Irish journal of medical science · 2026Article
- Two-timepoint multidomain follow-up of post-COVID condition and ME/CFS: overlapping autonomic, small-fiber, and cognitive changes.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- Designing studies for post-treatment Lyme disease and other infection-associated chronic illnesses.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Review
- Underuse of Pharmacologic Therapies for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Before Specialist Evaluation.Annals of family medicine · 2026Article
- Overlapping Clinical Presentation of Long COVID and Postacute COVID-19 Vaccination Syndrome: Phenotypes, Severity, and Biomarkers.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026Article
- Comprehensive Immunophenotyping of Monocytes and Dendritic Cells Suggests Distinct Pathophysiology in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long COVID.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Risk factors for severe post-COVID condition in children, adolescents, and young adults.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Observational
- Validation of the Wood Mental Fatigue Inventory in adolescents with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Post-Exertional Malaise in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: A Shift in the Frequency Across Pandemic Phases.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Improving Diagnostic Accuracy of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Through a Point-of-Care Clinical Algorithm.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Assessment and Incidence Determination of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Following a SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Prospective Cohort of Hospital Employees.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
23 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMyalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) may occur after infection. How often people develop ME/CFS after SARS-CoV-2 infection is unknown.
objectiveTo determine the incidence and prevalence of post-COVID-19 ME/CFS among adults enrolled in the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER-Adult) study. DESIGN, SETTING, AND
participantsRECOVER-Adult is a longitudinal observational cohort study conducted across the U.S. We included participants who had a study visit at least 6 months after infection and had no pre-existing ME/CFS, grouped as (1) acute infected, enrolled within 30 days of infection or enrolled as uninfected who became infected (n=4515); (2) post-acute infected, enrolled greater than 30 days after infection (n=7270); and (3) uninfected (1439). MEASUREMENTS: Incidence rate and prevalence of post-COVID-19 ME/CFS based on the 2015 Institute of Medicine ME/CFS clinical diagnostic criteria.
resultsThe incidence rate of ME/CFS in participants followed from time of SARS-CoV-2 infection was 2.66 (95% CI 2.63-2.70) per 100 person-years while the rate in matched uninfected participants was 0.93 (95% CI 0.91-10.95) per 100 person-years: a hazard ratio of 4.93 (95% CI 3.62-6.71). The proportion of all RECOVER-Adult participants that met criteria for ME/CFS following SARS-CoV-2 infection was 4.5% (531 of 11,785) compared to 0.6% (9 of 1439) in uninfected participants. Post-exertional malaise was the most common ME/CFS symptom in infected participants (24.0%, 2830 of 11,785). Most participants with post-COVID-19 ME/CFS also met RECOVER criteria for long COVID (88.7%, 471 of 531). LIMITATIONS: The ME/CFS clinical diagnostic criteria uses self-reported symptoms. Symptoms can wax and wane.
conclusionME/CFS is a diagnosable sequela that develops at an increased rate following SARS-CoV-2 infection. RECOVER provides an unprecedented opportunity to study post-COVID-19 ME/CFS.
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