Department of Psychiatry, Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054, USA.
Medicina (Kaunas). 2021 Apr 26;57(5):418. doi: 10.3390/medicina57050418.
Long COVID defines a series of chronic symptoms that patients may experience after resolution of acute COVID-19. Early reports from studies with patients with long COVID suggests a constellation of symptoms with similarities to another chronic medical illness-myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). A review study comparing and contrasting ME/CFS with reported symptoms of long COVID may yield mutualistic insight into the characterization and management of both conditions. A systemic literature search was conducted in MEDLINE and PsycInfo through to 31 January 2021 for studies related to long COVID symptomatology. The literature search was conducted in accordance with PRISMA methodology. Twenty-one studies were included in the qualitative analysis. Long COVID symptoms reported by the included studies were compared to a list of ME/CFS symptoms compiled from multiple case definitions. Twenty-five out of 29 known ME/CFS symptoms were reported by at least one selected long COVID study. Early studies into long COVID symptomatology suggest many overlaps with clinical presentation of ME/CFS. The need for monitoring and treatment for patients post-COVID is evident. Advancements and standardization of long COVID research methodologies would improve the quality of future research, and may allow further investigations into the similarities and differences between long COVID and ME/CFS.
长新冠定义了一系列患者在急性 COVID-19 痊愈后可能出现的慢性症状。来自长新冠患者研究的早期报告表明，一系列症状与另一种慢性疾病——肌痛性脑脊髓炎/慢性疲劳综合征（ME/CFS）相似。一项比较和对比 ME/CFS 与报告的长新冠症状的综述研究可能会对这两种疾病的特征和管理产生相互有益的见解。通过系统的文献检索，在 MEDLINE 和 PsycInfo 中搜索了截至 2021 年 1 月 31 日与长新冠症状学相关的研究。文献检索符合 PRISMA 方法学。纳入了 21 项定性分析研究。从多项病例定义中汇编的 ME/CFS 症状列表，与纳入研究报告的长新冠症状进行了比较。29 种已知的 ME/CFS 症状中有 25 种至少被一项选定的长新冠研究报告过。对长新冠症状学的早期研究表明，许多与 ME/CFS 的临床表现重叠。显然，需要对 COVID 后患者进行监测和治疗。长新冠研究方法的改进和标准化将提高未来研究的质量，并可能进一步调查长新冠和 ME/CFS 之间的相似性和差异。
