A team of researchers in Australia – including Dr Kiran Thapaliya, Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik, and Dr Natalie Eaton-Fitch who are also currently working on research funded by ME Research UK, have reviewed the existing evidence relating to quality of life – the degree to which an individual is healthy, comfortable, able to complete the tasks of daily living, and to enjoy life events, in people with ME/CFS and those with “post COVID-19 condition”.
Unsurprisingly, the researchers found that compared with healthy people, people with ME/CFS and those with “post COVID-19 condition” have reduced quality of life specifically relating to their health. Notably, both illnesses had a negative impact on physical health including increased pain, and reduced ability to perform daily and work activities.
In their paper, the authors highlight the importance of this research by stating that people with ME/CFS and those with “post COVID-19 condition” are often excluded from accessing necessary disability and social support services. Therefore, research – such as this review, which highlights severe and disabling impacts of these illnesses is essential to ensure the development of evidence-based healthcare policies.
What did the review team do?
The team systematically searched six scientific databases from the 1st of January 2003 to the 23rd of July 2004 for studies which looked at health related quality of life in people with ME/CFS and those with “post COVID-19 condition”.
Importantly the researchers only included studies which:
- Defined cases of ME/CFS using either the Canadian Consensus Criteria or International Consensus Criteria for ME/CFS – both requiring post exertional malaise to be present for a diagnosis of the disease to be made.
- Defined cases of “post COVID-19 condition” using the World Health Organisation case definition.
Overall, there were 16 studies identified; 8 studies which looked at people with ME/CFS and 7 which looked at people with “post COVID-19 condition”, and one additional study looked at both illness cohorts.
Across all included studies, most participants were female and middle-aged.
Conclusions and future research recommendations
Based on the studies included in this review, the researchers were able to conclude:
“ME/CFS and post COVID-19 condition have similar, profound impacts on health-related quality of life that warrant access to multidisciplinary disability and social support services”.
Also noted were difficulties comparing results between studies due to inconsistencies in the methods used to collect data on health-related quality of life.
Future research recommendations
The review team highlighted the need for uniform methods of assessing health-related quality of life and stated that future research must prioritise investigations considering the impact of ME/CFS, and of “post COVID-19 condition” on health-related quality of life over time – longitudinal studies.
