Iversen, Per Ole, von Lueder, Thomas Gero, Kardel, Kristin Reimers et al. · Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020 · DOI
Researchers used heart ultrasounds to check if the hearts of people with ME/CFS were structurally different or working differently than healthy people's hearts. They found no significant differences in heart size or function between the 16 women with ME/CFS and 10 healthy women they studied. This suggests that ME/CFS exercise intolerance and lactate buildup may not be caused by problems with how the heart itself is structured or functioning.
Understanding whether ME/CFS involves cardiac dysfunction is crucial for explaining exercise intolerance and abnormal lactate accumulation—hallmark features of the disease. These findings help narrow the search for the underlying cause of ME/CFS symptoms by ruling out the heart as a primary source of dysfunction, potentially redirecting research focus toward metabolic and mitochondrial mechanisms.
This study does not prove that cardiac abnormalities never occur in ME/CFS, as it only examined a small group of 16 women and used single time-point measurements. It also does not establish what is actually causing the abnormal lactate accumulation observed in ME/CFS patients, only that structural or functional heart problems are unlikely to be the explanation. Additionally, findings in women may not generalize to men with 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 →
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