Deluca, J, Johnson, S K, Natelson, B H · Toxicology and industrial health · 1994
This review examines how ME/CFS affects thinking, memory, and mental health. Researchers compared people with ME/CFS to people with multiple sclerosis, depression, and healthy individuals to understand the neuropsychiatric symptoms (brain and mental health effects) that often accompany the chronic fatigue. The study suggests that cognitive problems in ME/CFS are a real biological feature of the illness, not simply depression.
This study was important for establishing that ME/CFS-associated cognitive and mental health problems have a neurobiological basis rather than being purely psychological. By directly comparing CFS patients to depressed patients, the research helped validate that cognitive impairment in ME/CFS is a distinct feature of the disease itself, supporting the need for biological rather than only psychiatric treatment approaches.
As a review article, this study does not present new experimental data or definitively prove causation. It does not identify specific biomarkers or mechanisms causing neuropsychiatric symptoms. The review also cannot establish whether cognitive impairments precede the illness, are caused by the illness, or result from prolonged inactivity and symptom burden.
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
Deluca, J, Johnson, S K, & Natelson, B H (1994). Neuropsychiatric status of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: an overview.. Toxicology and industrial health. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7778111/
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-deluca-1994-neuropsychiatric-status,
author = {Deluca, J and Johnson, S K and Natelson, B H},
title = {Neuropsychiatric status of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: an overview.},
journal = {Toxicology and industrial health},
year = {1994},
note = {PubMed: 7778111},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/deluca-1994-neuropsychiatric-status},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/deluca-1994-neuropsychiatric-status
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