Galland, Barbara C, Jackson, Pamela M, Sayers, Rachel M et al. · Pediatric research · 2008 · DOI
This study looked at how the hearts and blood vessels of children and teenagers with ME/CFS respond when they stand up or are tilted upright. Researchers compared 26 young people with ME/CFS to similar healthy controls using a tilt table test. They found that children with ME/CFS were much more likely to experience dizziness and abnormal heart rate responses during the test, suggesting their bodies struggle to regulate blood pressure and heart function when upright.
This study provides objective cardiovascular evidence that orthostatic intolerance is a common, measurable feature of pediatric ME/CFS, particularly a specific subtype called POTS without hypotension. Understanding these physiological abnormalities may help explain the exercise intolerance and symptom flares that severely limit activity in young people with ME/CFS and could guide development of targeted treatments.
This study does not prove that orthostatic intolerance causes ME/CFS or that treating OI will cure ME/CFS—only that the conditions frequently co-occur. The 50% sensitivity means the tilt test is not sensitive enough to definitively diagnose ME/CFS. The study also cannot determine whether the cardiovascular abnormalities are primary drivers of fatigue or secondary consequences of the illness.
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
Galland, Barbara C, Jackson, Pamela M, Sayers, Rachel M, & Taylor, Barry J (2008). A matched case control study of orthostatic intolerance in children/adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Pediatric research. https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e31815ed612
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-galland-2008-matched-case,
author = {Galland, Barbara C and Jackson, Pamela M and Sayers, Rachel M and Taylor, Barry J},
title = {A matched case control study of orthostatic intolerance in children/adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Pediatric research},
year = {2008},
doi = {10.1203/PDR.0b013e31815ed612},
note = {PubMed: 18091356},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/galland-2008-matched-case},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/galland-2008-matched-case
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