Long-term Sequelae of COVID-19 (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis): An International Cross-Sectional Study
Conditions: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Sponsor: Alexandria University

 
 
 
LONG-TERM SEQUELAE OF COVID-
19 (MYALGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS: 
AN INTERNATIONAL CROSS-
SECTIONAL STUDY 
GLOBAL LONG COVID STUDY BY ICRAAA TEAM 

ICRAAA TEAM  
GLOBAL LONG COVID STUDY                                                                                                                                                    ICRAAACovid@gmail.com 
 
 
 
Contents 
Collaborating with International Clinical Research Association & Allied Activities (ICRAAA) ....................................................................................... 2 
ACTIVITIES OF THE ASSOCIATION ................................................................................................................................................................................. 2 
Protocol summary ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 
Study Title .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3 
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 
Aim ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 
Objectives .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 
Study Design .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 
Study duration ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 
What are the study procedures? ............................................................................................................................................................................... 5 
What type of questions will be asked? ...................................................................................................................................................................... 5 
Who can fill the survey? (inclusion/exclusion criteria) .............................................................................................................................................. 5 
Are there any risks to participating in this study? ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 
What are the benefits for participating in this study? ............................................................................................................................................... 5 
Can participants choose to leave the study? ............................................................................................................................................................. 6 
How will participants’ information be kept confidential? ......................................................................................................................................... 7 
Are participants paid to be in this study? .................................................................................................................................................................. 8 
Whom do participants contact for questions? .......................................................................................................................................................... 8 
Financial support:....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 
Authorship& collaboration ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 8 

ICRAAA TEAM  
GLOBAL LONG COVID STUDY                                                                                                                                                    ICRAAACovid@gmail.com 
 
References: .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 
 
 
 
 
Collaborating with International Clinical Research Association & Allied Activities (ICRAAA) 
International Clinical Research Association  & Allied Activities (ICRAAA) is an  international group based in Alexandria,  
Egypt meant by clinical, research primary  and secondary. The association was  founded on April 20, 2021, by Ahmed  
Shaheen, a 4th-year medical student at  Alexandria faculty of medicine. The  Association has its internal structure  
composed of a president, two vice  presidents, three coordinators, and one  honorable president.  
The main goal of the association is to  provide a real opportunity and suitable  atmosphere for medical students, new  
graduates, and physicians from all over the  world to start their career in clinical  research. We have two parallel goals  
training the beginners and providing the  right experts in the field you are interested in  to help in your research project.  
We are more concerned about members  from low- and middle-income countries  because of the lack of real training in  
medical research and lack of funding which  is a major problem for both medical  students and new graduates who 
consider  a future career in medical research. 
 
 
ACTIVITIES OF THE ASSOCIATION  
1. Conducting clinical research primary and secondary research. 2. Holding research training sessions and journal clubs.  
3. An annual conference mainly for work produced by the association, it  will be either virtual or in-person at Alexandria 

ICRAAA TEAM  
GLOBAL LONG COVID STUDY                                                                                                                                                    ICRAAACovid@gmail.com 
 
city, Egypt. 4. Targeting to have our scientific journal. (long-term objective) 5. Gathering emerging researchers from low- 
and middle-income countries together in one place to guarantee better interaction,  cooperation, and learning from 
different experiences.  
6. We will open a call for a Research training scholarship every 6 months. 
Protocol summary 
Study Title 
Long-term sequelae COVID-19 (Myalgic encephalomyelitis: 
an international cross-sectional study 
 
 
Introduction 
Novel COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 have a lot 
of serious symptoms, but some of last for a period of time even 
after the recovery. Even people who had some mild symptoms 
during COVID-19 continue to  have long terms effects after 
initial recovery. These people are called “long haulers” and 
these symptoms are called Long COVID-19, so in this study, we 
aim to detect the most common symptoms of long Covid_19 
syndrome 

ICRAAA TEAM  
GLOBAL LONG COVID STUDY                                                                                                                                                    ICRAAACovid@gmail.com 
 
Aim 
This study aims to provide a comprehensive global picture of 
the post covid symptoms and the potential Myalgic encephalitis 
cases incidence  
 
Objectives 
The primary objective of this research is to understand acute 
and chronic long covid symptoms by asking questions detecting 
patient’s experience especially symptoms lasting for several 
months which is known as chronic fatigue syndrome(Myalgic 
encephalitis). The study focuses on symptoms describing 
Myalgic encephalitis which may still affect covid patients for 
several months after the infection along with making a big 
picture about rare symptoms that may the patient experienced 
during or after the infection. 
A secondary objective of this research is to focus on the long-
term sequelae effects and comorbidities following COVID-19 
vaccination. 
Study Design 
cross sectional online-questionnaire based study. 
Study duration 
 

ICRAAA TEAM  
GLOBAL LONG COVID STUDY                                                                                                                                                    ICRAAACovid@gmail.com 
 
What are the study procedures? 
 
If you agree to participate after reading this message, you will 
be taken to the survey which is housed on the Survey Heart 
platform. You will be asked to answer the questions to the best 
of your ability. In the mental health section and any question 
marked as optional, you can choose whether or not you would 
like to respond. The information that you enter will be collected 
after each page. You can take breaks and return to finish the 
survey at any time within one week. 
What type of questions will be asked? 
 
The survey asks different questions on testing, diagnosis, 
symptoms, treatments, background information, coping 
methods as well as health and mental health. 
 
Who can fill the survey? (inclusion/exclusion criteria) 
• 
Persons had a COVID-19, or suspected COVID-19 
infection (still suffering or suffered symptoms) for longer 
than 1 week Even if your COVID-19 test result was 
negative, or you were not tested at all 
• 
Persons who are 18 years of age or older 
 
Are there any risks to participating in this study? 
 
There are no known risks associated with this research study. In 
order to mitigate risks inherent in all online surveys, this survey 
will be conducted on the Survey Heart platform. 
What are the benefits for participating in this study? 
There are no known direct benefits associated with participating 
in this research study. Your experiences will help us to better 
define the recovery from the COVID19 and improve advocacy 
for Long COVID (long-hauler) population 

ICRAAA TEAM  
GLOBAL LONG COVID STUDY                                                                                                                                                    ICRAAACovid@gmail.com 
 
Can participants choose to leave the study? 
Participation in this study is voluntary. You may refuse to 
participate or at any point during the survey, if you decide to 
opt out from our study, you can fill this form by providing the 
anonymous ID we generate for you. Once you submit the 
survey you will be unable to withdraw your data. 
 

ICRAAA TEAM  
GLOBAL LONG COVID STUDY                                                                                                                                                    ICRAAACovid@gmail.com 
 
How will participants’ information be kept confidential?  
 
There will be no information collected that may in any way 
identify you based upon your responses Email addresses will 
only be used to send you a link to the survey, or to notify you 
of future surveys. A cryptographic algorithm will be used to 
generate a hash code from each email address. Hash codes 
will link survey responses to a unique participant without 
revealing the participant’s email address or identity. Paired 
email addresses and hash codes will be stored in a GDPR 
compliant email database managed by a secure hosting 
provider. Survey responses will be stored on a separate 
server in a secure, encrypted format. Email addresses will 
not be stored with survey responses and will remain 
unknown to both the research team and the hosting 
company. Any data exported will only be used by the above 
survey investigators and exported data will be housed solely 
on secure servers. 
Your responses will be housed on a secure server for 10 
years, after which they will be destroyed. Anonymized data 
may be made public or shared with any other researchers. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

ICRAAA TEAM  
GLOBAL LONG COVID STUDY                                                                                                                                                    ICRAAACovid@gmail.com 
 
Are participants paid to be in this study? 
 
You will receive no monetary compensation or gifts for 
participating in this study. 
 
Whom do participants contact for questions? 
If you have any questions about the study, please contact  
ICRAAACovid@gmail.com 
Please note that email is not a secure form of 
communication.  
 
Financial support: 
self-funding 
Authorship& collaboration 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
References: 
1.  
WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard | WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard With Vaccination Data [Internet]. [cited 2021 Sep 10]. 
Available from: https://covid19.who.int/ 

ICRAAA TEAM  
GLOBAL LONG COVID STUDY                                                                                                                                                    ICRAAACovid@gmail.com 
 
2.  
Komaroff AL, Bateman L. Will COVID-19 Lead to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? Frontiers in Medicine. 2021 Jan 
18;0:1132.  
3.  
Crook H, Raza S, Nowell J, Young M, Edison P. Long covid—mechanisms, risk factors, and management. BMJ. 2021 Jul;374:n1648.  
4.  
Carfì A, Bernabei R, Landi F. Persistent symptoms in patients after acute COVID-19. JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association. 2020 
Aug;324(6):603–5.  
5.  
MW T, SS K, CJ L, E BR, NI S, DC F, et al. Symptom Duration and Risk Factors for Delayed Return to Usual Health Among Outpatients with COVID-
19 in a Multistate Health Care Systems Network - United States, March-June 2020. MMWR Morbidity and mortality weekly report. 2020 
Jul;69(30):993–8.  
6.  
Carruthers BM, Sande MI van de, Meirleir KL de, Klimas NG, Broderick G, Mitchell T, et al. Myalgic encephalomyelitis: International Consensus 
Criteria. Journal of Internal Medicine [Internet]. 2011 Oct 1 [cited 2021 Sep 10];270(4):327–38. Available from: 
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2011.02428.x 
7.  
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Vaccines safety.  
8.  
Alobaida S, Lam JM. Beau lines associated with COVID-19. CMAJ [Internet]. 2020 Sep 8 [cited 2021 Sep 10];192(36):E1040–E1040. Available 
from: https://www.cmaj.ca/content/192/36/E1040 
9.  
Sperber AD. Translation and validation of study instruments for cross-cultural research. Gastroenterology [Internet]. 2004 Jan 1 [cited 2021 Sep 
10];126(1):S124–8. Available from: http://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016508503015646/fulltext 
  
 Thank you for joining the Global Long covid study by ICRAAA.  
For any questions or suggestions, don’t hesitate to contact us at: 
Email: ICRAAACovid@gmail.com