Burnet, Richard B, Chatterton, Barry E · BMC gastroenterology · 2004 · DOI
This study found that people with ME/CFS often have stomach problems that can be measured with special imaging tests. Researchers compared 32 ME/CFS patients with 45 healthy people and discovered that most ME/CFS patients had slower movement of food through their stomachs, particularly liquids. These measured stomach delays matched up with how severe patients' digestive symptoms were.
This study provides objective, measurable evidence that ME/CFS-related digestive symptoms are not purely psychological but reflect real physiological dysfunction in stomach movement. Understanding gastric dysmotility may help clinicians better manage nutritional challenges in ME/CFS and could guide future research into treating GI complications.
This study does not establish whether slow gastric emptying is a primary feature of ME/CFS or a secondary consequence of the disease. It cannot determine causality—whether the motility dysfunction causes symptoms or symptoms cause the dysfunction. The study also does not address whether gastric delay is present in all ME/CFS patients or only a subset.
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 →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Burnet, Richard B & Chatterton, Barry E (2004). Gastric emptying is slow in chronic fatigue syndrome.. BMC gastroenterology. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-230X-4-32
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-burnet-2004-gastric-emptying,
author = {Burnet, Richard B and Chatterton, Barry E},
title = {Gastric emptying is slow in chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {BMC gastroenterology},
year = {2004},
doi = {10.1186/1471-230X-4-32},
note = {PubMed: 15619332},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/burnet-2004-gastric-emptying},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/burnet-2004-gastric-emptying
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