Cathébras, P, Bouchou, K, Charmion, S et al. · La Revue de medecine interne · 1993 · DOI
ME/CFS is a debilitating condition characterized mainly by extreme tiredness of unknown cause. Current diagnostic criteria don't clearly identify a single uniform group of patients, and no clear infectious or immune cause has been definitively proven, though some viruses and immune changes may play a role in some cases. Treatment options are limited but may include antidepressants and cognitive-behavioral therapy.
This review highlights critical gaps in ME/CFS understanding and emphasizes the need to identify disease subgroups based on post-infectious etiology and immunological markers. It also raises awareness of the psychiatric comorbidity frequently observed in CFS, which has implications for both research design and clinical management strategies.
This is a critical review, not a primary research study, so it does not present new experimental data or definitive proof of causation. The authors do not establish that psychiatric conditions cause ME/CFS, only that they frequently co-occur. The paper also does not definitively rule out infectious or immune mechanisms—only that none had been conclusively demonstrated by 1993.
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
Cathébras, P, Bouchou, K, Charmion, S, & Rousset, H (1993). [Chronic fatigue syndrome: a critical review].. La Revue de medecine interne. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0248-8663(05)82489-0
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-cathbras-1993-chronic-fatigue,
author = {Cathébras, P and Bouchou, K and Charmion, S and Rousset, H},
title = {[Chronic fatigue syndrome: a critical review].},
journal = {La Revue de medecine interne},
year = {1993},
doi = {10.1016/s0248-8663(05)82489-0},
note = {PubMed: 8378654},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cathbras-1993-chronic-fatigue},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cathbras-1993-chronic-fatigue
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.