A significant sub-set (50% or more) of Long COVID patients have symptoms that are consistent with a diagnosis of ME/CFS:
Other common manifestations of ME/CFS include pain, failure to recover from a prior infection, and abnormal immune function.
These symptoms may occur alone or along with other manifestations common to Long COVID.
Patients who have symptoms consistent with ME/CFS should be treated as ME/CFS patients, which includes guidance on energy management (e.g. pacing) and only a slow and carefully monitored re-introduction of exercise and resumption of normal activities. Additionally, the ICD-10 code for ME/CFS (G93.32) should be added to the clinical record.
ME/CFS and Post-Exertional Malaise among Patients with Long COVID (March 2023)
Diagnosing ME/CFS in People with Long COVID (US ME/CFS Clinician Coalition Consensus Statement, April 2023)
Effective October 1, 2022, updates to the US ICD-10-CM will enable tracking of people with ME/CFS, including those who develop the disease following COVID. These updates are specific to the ICD-10-CM, the US version of the International Classification of Diseases.
Coding Poster: Does Your Long COVID Patient have ME/CFS?
Updated Coding for ME/CFS and ME/CFS following Long COVID
ME/CFS Essentials Of Diagnosis and Management (Mayo Clinic Proceedings, November 2021)
AAPM&R consensus guidance statements
Multi-Disciplinary Collaborative Consensus Guidance Statement on the Assessment and Treatment of Cardiovascular Complications in Patients with Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC) The full text of this article is currently available as a PDF.
Long COVID in Children: What Do We Know? (November 2022)
Writings by journalist Ed Yong, published in The Atlantic
“Long COVID Has Forced a Reckoning for One of Medicine’s Most Neglected Diseases” (September 2022)
Only a couple dozen doctors specialize in chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Now their knowledge could be crucial to treating millions more patients.
“One of Long COVID’s Worst Symptoms Is Also Its Most Misunderstood” (about brain fog; September 2022)
"Fatigue Can Shatter a Person" (July 2023)
Everyday tiredness is nothing like the depleted symptom that people with long COVID and ME/CFS experience.