Alternative medicine review : a journal of clinical therapeutic · 2001
This article reviews DHEA, a hormone naturally produced by your body that decreases as you age. Research suggests that lower DHEA levels may be connected to several conditions, including ME/CFS, heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. DHEA acts as a 'buffer hormone' that can be converted into other important hormones like estrogen and testosterone.
ME/CFS patients often experience endocrine dysfunction, and understanding potential hormonal biomarkers like DHEA could help explain some disease mechanisms. This review suggests DHEA may be relevant to ME/CFS pathophysiology, potentially opening avenues for future mechanistic research and evaluation of DHEA supplementation as a therapeutic strategy.
This monograph does not prove that DHEA deficiency causes ME/CFS or other associated conditions—it only notes suggested associations found in other research. The review does not establish whether low DHEA is a primary driver of disease, a secondary consequence, or simply a correlation. No original clinical trial data is presented to demonstrate efficacy of DHEA treatment in 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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