Illness presentation and quality of life in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and post COVID-19 condition: a pilot Australian cross-sectional study

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Weigel, Breanna
Eaton-Fitch, Natalie
Thapaliya, Kiran
Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya
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2024
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Abstract

Purpose: Post COVID-19 Condition (PCC), being persistent COVID-19 symptoms, is reminiscent of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)—a chronic multi-systemic illness characterised by neurocognitive, autonomic, endocrinological and immunological disturbances. This novel cross-sectional investigation aims to: (1) compare symptoms among people with ME/CFS (pwME/CFS) and people with PCC (pwPCC) to inform developing PCC diagnostic criteria; and (2) compare health outcomes between patients and people without acute or chronic illness (controls) to highlight the illness burdens of ME/CFS and PCC. Methods: Sociodemographic and health outcome data were collected from n = 61 pwME/CFS, n = 31 pwPCC and n = 54 controls via validated, self-administered questionnaires, including the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey version 2 (SF-36v2) and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule version 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0). PwME/CFS and pwPCC also provided self-reported severity and frequency of symptoms derived from the Canadian and International Consensus Criteria for ME/CFS and the World Health Organization case definition for PCC. Results: Both illness cohorts similarly experienced key ME/CFS symptoms. Few differences in symptoms were observed, with memory disturbances, muscle weakness, lymphadenopathy and nausea more prevalent, light-headedness more severe, unrefreshed sleep more frequent, and heart palpitations less frequent among pwME/CFS (all p < 0.05). The ME/CFS and PCC participants’ SF-36v2 or WHODAS 2.0 scores were comparable (all p > 0.05); however, both cohorts returned significantly lower scores in all SF-36v2 and WHODAS 2.0 domains when compared with controls (all p < 0.001). Conclusion: This Australian-first investigation demonstrates the congruent and debilitating nature of ME/CFS and PCC, thereby emphasising the need for multidisciplinary care to maximise patient health outcomes.

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Quality of Life Research

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33

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9

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NHMRC

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GNT1199502

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© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Health sciences

Human society

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Weigel, B; Eaton-Fitch, N; Thapaliya, K; Marshall-Gradisnik, S, Illness presentation and quality of life in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and post COVID-19 condition: a pilot Australian cross-sectional study, Quality of Life Research, 2024, 33 (9), pp. 2489-2507

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