Castro-Marrero, Jesus, Sáez-Francàs, Naia, Santillo, Dafna et al. · British journal of pharmacology · 2017 · DOI
This review looked at all available research on treatments for ME/CFS to see what actually helps patients. The researchers found that while some treatments like behavioral therapy, pacing strategies, and nutritional supplements show promise, the evidence is still limited because most studies were small and used different methods. The authors conclude that personalized pacing and treating nutritional deficiencies are reasonable approaches, but much larger and better-designed studies are urgently needed to know what really works.
ME/CFS patients lack FDA-approved treatments and established diagnostic biomarkers, making evidence-based clinical guidance critical. This review synthesizes what is known about treatment options and clearly identifies the urgent need for better research, helping patients understand why definitive treatment recommendations remain elusive and advocating for the rigorous studies necessary to advance patient care.
This review does not prove that any single treatment is effective for ME/CFS—it only identifies which treatments have been studied and notes that evidence is limited. The heterogeneous nature of existing studies means results cannot be directly compared, so this review cannot establish which interventions work best for which patients or population subgroups. It also does not determine whether observed benefits persist long-term or generalize across different ME/CFS presentations.
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
Castro-Marrero, Jesus, Sáez-Francàs, Naia, Santillo, Dafna, & Alegre, Jose (2017). Treatment and management of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis: all roads lead to Rome.. British journal of pharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.13702
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-castro-marrero-2017-treatment-management,
author = {Castro-Marrero, Jesus and Sáez-Francàs, Naia and Santillo, Dafna and Alegre, Jose},
title = {Treatment and management of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis: all roads lead to Rome.},
journal = {British journal of pharmacology},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1111/bph.13702},
note = {PubMed: 28052319},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/castro-marrero-2017-treatment-management},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/castro-marrero-2017-treatment-management
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