Sharma, A, Oyebode, F, Kendall, M J et al. · Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine · 2001 · DOI
This study looked at whether people who recovered from ME/CFS showed changes in their body's hormone and nervous system function compared to those still sick and healthy controls. The researchers examined whether normalizing these biological systems was connected to getting better from the illness.
This research provides preliminary evidence that ME/CFS may involve measurable changes in hormone and nervous system function, and that recovery could involve normalization of these systems. Understanding biological markers of recovery might eventually help predict prognosis and identify therapeutic targets.
This study does not prove that neuroendocrine dysfunction causes ME/CFS or that correcting these abnormalities will lead to recovery. It shows association in recovered patients but cannot establish whether normalization of hormones/nervous system function was the cause or consequence of recovery. The findings apply only to those who recovered and may not represent all ME/CFS patients.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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