Flores, Samantha, Brown, Abigail, Adeoye, Samuel et al. · Workplace health & safety · 2013 · DOI
This study looked at how weight affects people with ME/CFS compared to healthy people of similar weight. Researchers found that people with ME/CFS who were overweight or obese had worse health and functioning than healthy people carrying the same amount of weight. The findings suggest that having ME/CFS makes weight-related health challenges even more difficult.
This research demonstrates that weight management in ME/CFS patients is complicated—people with ME/CFS experience worse health outcomes at similar weights compared to healthy individuals, suggesting that standard weight-based health interventions may not translate directly to this population. Understanding how obesity compounds ME/CFS disability can help clinicians provide more tailored, realistic health guidance.
This study does not prove that obesity causes ME/CFS or vice versa; it only shows an association. The research cannot establish whether weight gain is a consequence of ME/CFS immobility, whether both conditions share common biological mechanisms, or whether weight loss interventions would improve ME/CFS outcomes. The exclusion of severely obese individuals (BMI ≥40) limits conclusions about the full spectrum of obesity in ME/CFS.
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
Flores, Samantha, Brown, Abigail, Adeoye, Samuel, Jason, Leonard A, & Evans, Meredyth (2013). Examining the impact of obesity on individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Workplace health & safety. https://doi.org/10.1177/216507991306100705
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-flores-2013-examining-impact,
author = {Flores, Samantha and Brown, Abigail and Adeoye, Samuel and Jason, Leonard A and Evans, Meredyth},
title = {Examining the impact of obesity on individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Workplace health & safety},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.1177/216507991306100705},
note = {PubMed: 23799656},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/flores-2013-examining-impact},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/flores-2013-examining-impact
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.