Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Jun 26, 2026 1 hour, 15 minutes ago
Medical News: Long-Term Study Reveals Striking Similarities
A new study has found that people suffering from long COVID may gradually develop biological and cognitive changes that closely resemble those seen in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), adding fresh evidence that the two conditions may share many of the same underlying disease processes.
Long-term research suggests persistent long COVID increasingly resembles ME/CFS in nerve function, autonomic
regulation, and cognitive changes
Researchers from the Biobizkaia Bizkaia Health Research Institute, Cruces University Hospital-OSAKIDETZA, CIBERNED-CIBER, Instituto Carlos III, Ikerbasque – The Basque Foundation for Science, and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in Spain tracked patients over approximately 31 months to examine changes affecting the nervous system, sensory nerves, brain function, and daily symptoms.
Looking Beyond Fatigue
The study followed 38 participants, including 21 with post-COVID condition (long COVID) and 17 with ME/CFS. Each participant underwent extensive testing twice, allowing researchers to observe how the illnesses changed over time rather than relying on a single snapshot.
The evaluations measured autonomic nervous system function, which controls automatic body processes such as heart rate and blood pressure, small nerve fiber health, memory, attention, thinking speed, and symptom severity including fatigue and dizziness.
Although people with ME/CFS had been ill for much longer at the beginning of the study, both groups displayed remarkably similar biological and cognitive profiles. Researchers found only small differences in nerve sensation and autonomic symptoms at baseline, and these differences disappeared during follow-up.
Important Changes Found During Follow-Up
One of the most interesting discoveries was that the biological profiles of long COVID patients became increasingly similar to those of people with established ME/CFS.
The researchers observed improvements in some measures of small nerve fiber function and verbal memory. At the same time, processing speed declined, suggesting that certain thinking abilities may continue to worsen even while other aspects of brain function remain stable or improve slightly.
The study also found signs of partial rebalancing within the autonomic nervous system. Activity linked to the body's "fight-or-flight" response decreased, while the "rest-and-digest" response became stronger. However, these physiological improvements did not always translate into patients feeling significantly better in their daily lives.
This
Medical News report highlights another important finding. Patients with more severe fatigue also tended to perform worse on tests measuring attention, processing speed, and executive function. In addition, people reporting greater small nerve fiber symptoms were more likely to experience severe autonomic problems
and higher levels of fatigue, suggesting these systems are closely connected.
Why These Findings Matter
The results strengthen growing evidence that long COVID and ME/CFS may represent different stages of a related post-infectious illness rather than completely separate diseases. The researchers caution, however, that their findings do not prove both conditions are identical, nor do they confirm that every person with long COVID will eventually develop ME/CFS.
Instead, the research suggests persistent long COVID may gradually adopt many of the same biological characteristics seen in long-standing ME/CFS, particularly involving the autonomic nervous system, small nerve fibers, and cognitive function. Understanding these shared mechanisms could eventually help scientists develop treatments that target both disorders instead of treating them as unrelated illnesses.
Conclusion
The study provides compelling long-term evidence that persistent long COVID and ME/CFS share extensive biological and cognitive similarities. While some objective nerve function measurements showed modest improvement over time, many patients continued to experience substantial symptoms, emphasizing the complexity of these chronic illnesses. Larger studies with longer follow-up will be needed to determine whether these overlapping changes eventually lead to common treatment strategies and improved outcomes for affected patients.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed Journal of Translational Medicine.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12967-026-08321-9
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