Association between chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis and cardiovascular disease.
Denu, Mawulorm K I, Revoori, Ritika, Eghan, Cherita et al. · Scientific reports · 2025 · DOI
Quick Summary
This study found that people with ME/CFS are significantly more likely to have heart and cardiovascular problems compared to people without ME/CFS. Researchers analyzed health data from over 114,000 Americans and discovered that even after accounting for common heart disease risk factors like high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking, ME/CFS remained strongly linked to cardiovascular disease. The findings suggest that people with ME/CFS should be monitored more closely for heart health issues.
Why It Matters
This study provides population-level evidence that ME/CFS patients face substantially elevated cardiovascular risk independent of classical risk factors, suggesting mechanisms specific to ME/CFS may contribute to CVD development. This finding underscores the need for integrated cardiovascular screening and monitoring in ME/CFS clinical care, potentially improving health outcomes for this medically underserved population. Understanding the ME/CFS-CVD association may reveal shared pathophysiological mechanisms relevant to both conditions.
Observed Findings
ME/CFS prevalence in the study population was 1.2%
Participants with ME/CFS had 3.26 times higher odds of having cardiovascular disease after adjusting for traditional CVD risk factors
The association between ME/CFS and CVD remained statistically significant (p<0.001) even after controlling for age, sex, race, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, smoking, and BMI
Median participant age was 53 years with 53.9% female representation
The study included a weighted sample of 114,834 U.S. participants from the National Health Interview Survey
Inferred Conclusions
ME/CFS is independently associated with cardiovascular disease beyond traditional CVD risk factors, suggesting ME/CFS-specific mechanisms may contribute to cardiovascular complications
Patients with ME/CFS warrant close clinical evaluation and monitoring for cardiovascular disease
The relationship between ME/CFS and CVD is more complex than explained by conventional cardiac risk factors alone and requires further investigation
Remaining Questions
What are the underlying biological mechanisms linking ME/CFS to increased cardiovascular disease risk?
Does ME/CFS precede cardiovascular disease development, or does cardiovascular disease contribute to ME/CFS onset or severity?
What This Study Does Not Prove
This study cannot establish whether ME/CFS causes cardiovascular disease, whether cardiovascular disease causes or exacerbates ME/CFS, or whether an unmeasured factor causes both conditions. The cross-sectional design captures associations at a single time point and cannot determine temporal sequence. The reliance on self-reported diagnoses may introduce diagnostic accuracy concerns and potential misclassification bias.