This is a quick post I've just posted on Facebook. If anyone spots any errors, let me know; alternatively, let me know if you think everything is correct. I will then make a Twitter thread about it (unlike with Facebook posts, Twitter posts can't be edited)
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As Dr David Tuller reported*, the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) conducted an online webinar recently called “Long COVID: Understanding the shadow of the virus.”
Among others, it featured Dr Alastair Miller (an infectious disease expert from Liverpool who used to run a local CFS/ME clinic) who claimed:
Fortunately, we don't have to depend on Dr Miller's claims: we actually have a published paper on the English NHS (rehab) ME/CFS clinics**.
A quick review of the data shows that Dr Miller's claims don't add up:
(From table 3)
At 1 year after initial assessment
I have been able to return to work or increase my hours: 18.0%
I have stopped working or reduced my hours: 34.8%
(From Table 6)
At 2- to 5-year follow-up
I have been able to return to work or increase my hours: 23.7%
I have stopped working or reduced my hours: 34.9%
(From table 4)
At 1 year after initial assessment
Do you think that you are still suffering from CFS/ME? No: 2.8% Uncertain: 10%
Note, that "no" and "uncertain" would also include those who now consider CFS/ME to be a misdiagnosis; it doesn't mean they are fully healthy
(From table 6)
Do you think that you are still suffering from CFS/ME?
At 2 years. No: 5.0% Uncertain: 8.8%
At 3 years: No: 2.4% Uncertain: 7.2%
At 4 years: No: 6.6% Uncertain: 11.3%
At 5 years: No: 8.2% Uncertain: 9.2%
Again, note that "no" and "uncertain" would also include those who now consider CFS/ME to be a misdiagnosis; it doesn't mean they are fully healthy
*Trial By Error: That Royal Society of Medicine Webinar on Long-Covid
https://www.virology.ws/2020/10/01/tria-by-error-royal-society-of-medicine-webinar-on-long-covid/
**Specialist treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome/ME: a cohort study among adult patients in England"
https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-017-2437-3