Post-exertional malaise (PEM) is a key symptom of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Currently, five PEM-items from the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire (DSQ) were recommended as a first step in measuring this symptom for patients with ME and CFS by the National Institutes of Health/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (NIH/CDC) Common Data Elements’ (CDE) working group. The second step in this process, as recommended by the NIH/CDC CDE working group, involves assembling information from various sources to confirm the presence of PEM. There have not been any efforts, to date, to standardize this second-step process in the assessment of PEM. The current study examined whether five supplementary items on the DSQ could be used to operationalize the second step of the recommendations made by the NIH/CDC CDE working group. The five supplementary DSQ PEM duration items correctly categorized patients with ME or CFS 81.7% of the time, while incorrectly categorizing multiple sclerosis (MS) and post-polio syndrome (PPS) as ME or CFS only 16.6% of the time. The findings suggested that a PEM second-step process could be operationalized using supplementary DSQ items.

Oxford Houses are democratic, mutual help–oriented recovery homes for individuals with substance abuse histories. There are more than 1200 of these houses in the United States, and each home is operated independently by its residents, without help from professional staff. In a recent experiment, 150 individuals in Illinois were randomly assigned to either an Oxford House or usual-care condition (i.e., outpatient treatment or self-help groups) after substance abuse treatment discharge. At the 24-month follow-up, those in the Oxford House condition compared with the usual-care condition had significantly lower substance use, significantly higher monthly income, and significantly lower incarceration rates.

This study sought to ascertain the prevalence of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) among a sample of 465 patients with Long COVID. The participants completed three questionnaires: (1) a new questionnaire measuring both the frequency and severity of 38 common symptoms of COVID and Long COVID, (2) a validated short form questionnaire assessing ME/CFS, and (3) a validated questionnaire measuring post-exertional malaise. The population was predominantly white, female, and living in North America. The mean duration since the onset of COVID-19 symptoms was 70.5 weeks. Among the 465 participants, 58% met a ME/CFS case definition. Of respondents who reported that they had ME/CFS only 71% met criteria for ME/CFS and of those who did not report they had ME/CFS, 40% nevertheless did meet criteria for the disease: both over-diagnosis and under-diagnosis were evident on self-report. This study supports prior findings that ME/CFS occurs with high prevalence among those who have persistent COVID-19 symptoms.

ME/CFS is characterized by debilitating fatigue in addition to other physical and cognitive symptoms. It is estimated to affect over 800,000 adults in the U.S. ME/CFS often results in diminished functionality and increased economic impact. The economic impact of an illness is generally divided into two categories: direct and indirect costs. Despite high prevalence rates and the disabling nature of the illness, few studies have examined the costs of ME/CFS at the individual and societal level. In fact, of the four studies examining the economic impact of ME/ME/CFS only two used a U. S. sample. The current study used community and tertiary samples to examine the direct costs of ME/CFS.