Datieva, V K, Rosinskaia, A V, Levin, O S · Zhurnal nevrologii i psikhiatrii imeni S.S. Korsakova · 2013
This study tested whether melatonin, a natural hormone that helps regulate sleep, could help Parkinson's disease patients who also experience chronic fatigue. Thirty patients took melatonin and showed a 21% improvement in fatigue, better sleep, less anxiety, and improved quality of life. The treatment did not significantly affect movement problems, thinking abilities, or depression.
Chronic fatigue affects approximately 50% of Parkinson's disease patients and remains poorly treated. Since ME/CFS shares fatigue and circadian dysfunction with PD-related fatigue, understanding melatonin's efficacy in this population may inform novel therapeutic approaches for primary CFS. This work suggests circadian pathway interventions warrant further investigation in post-viral and idiopathic fatigue syndromes.
This study cannot establish that melatonin is effective for ME/CFS specifically, as the cohort consisted exclusively of Parkinson's disease patients with secondary fatigue. The lack of a randomized control arm or blinding means improvements could reflect placebo effect, natural disease course, or confounding effects from optimized antiparkinsonian medications. Findings cannot be generalized to primary CFS without dedicated controlled trials.
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
Datieva, V K, Rosinskaia, A V, & Levin, O S (2013). [The use of melatonin in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome and circadian rhythm disorders in Parkinson's disease].. Zhurnal nevrologii i psikhiatrii imeni S.S. Korsakova. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23994935/
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-datieva-2013-use-melatonin,
author = {Datieva, V K and Rosinskaia, A V and Levin, O S},
title = {[The use of melatonin in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome and circadian rhythm disorders in Parkinson's disease].},
journal = {Zhurnal nevrologii i psikhiatrii imeni S.S. Korsakova},
year = {2013},
note = {PubMed: 23994935},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/datieva-2013-use-melatonin},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/datieva-2013-use-melatonin
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