Can Long COVID Researchers Learn From ME/CFS?

Med Page Today – There are a dizzying array of case definitions for long COVID that vary in terms of what to name this condition, the duration of symptoms, the types of symptoms, and the medical comorbidities. The field of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) has encountered comparable problems as they developed case definitions over the past 3 decades. In this commentary, we will show how lessons learned from ME/CFS can help with identifying a variety of conceptually distinct medical comorbid conditions. This is a challenging task for those who are overseeing the large national COVID study, RECOVER, with over 8,500 participants currently enrolled and a goal of 40,000 participants by the end of the year.