Egge, Caroline, Wyller, Vegard Bruun · BioPsychoSocial medicine · 2010 · DOI
This study tested how the hearts and blood vessels of teenagers with ME/CFS respond to mental stress (doing math problems) compared to healthy teens. While ME/CFS patients had faster resting heart rates, their cardiovascular response during the mental stress test was similar to healthy controls, suggesting that simple mental stress doesn't cause the same abnormal autonomic nervous system responses that physical stress does in this condition.
Understanding which types of stressors trigger abnormal autonomic responses in ME/CFS helps researchers and clinicians identify the specific physiological mechanisms underlying the condition. This study provides evidence that autonomic dysfunction in adolescent ME/CFS may be stress-type specific, which could inform targeted diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.
This study does not prove that autonomic nervous system dysfunction is absent in ME/CFS overall—only that responses to simple mental stress appear normal. The elevated baseline heart rate suggests autonomic abnormalities exist; the findings indicate these may not manifest during mental stress tasks specifically. The small sample size and cross-sectional design limit generalizability and cannot establish causation.
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 →
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Primary citation
Egge, Caroline & Wyller, Vegard Bruun (2010). No differences in cardiovascular autonomic responses to mental stress in chronic fatigue syndrome adolescents as compared to healthy controls.. BioPsychoSocial medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/1751-0759-4-22
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-egge-2010-differences-cardiovascular,
author = {Egge, Caroline and Wyller, Vegard Bruun},
title = {No differences in cardiovascular autonomic responses to mental stress in chronic fatigue syndrome adolescents as compared to healthy controls.},
journal = {BioPsychoSocial medicine},
year = {2010},
doi = {10.1186/1751-0759-4-22},
note = {PubMed: 21156045},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/egge-2010-differences-cardiovascular},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/egge-2010-differences-cardiovascular
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