Jerjes, Walid K, Taylor, Norman F, Wood, Peter J et al. · Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2007 · DOI
This study tested how the bodies of ME/CFS patients respond to a small dose of a steroid medication called prednisolone. Researchers found that people with ME/CFS showed a stronger suppression of cortisol (a stress hormone) after taking the medication compared to healthy controls, suggesting their bodies may be overly sensitive to this type of feedback signal from the steroid.
Understanding how the HPA axis functions differently in ME/CFS patients may help explain some core symptoms like fatigue and post-exertional malaise. This research contributes to the growing evidence that ME/CFS involves measurable biological abnormalities in hormone regulation rather than being primarily psychological.
This study does not prove that enhanced HPA axis feedback sensitivity causes ME/CFS symptoms or that it is the primary driver of the disease. It also does not establish whether this finding is specific to ME/CFS or occurs in other fatiguing illnesses, and it cannot explain whether this represents a beneficial adaptation or a pathological change.
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
Jerjes, Walid K, Taylor, Norman F, Wood, Peter J, & Cleare, Anthony J (2007). Enhanced feedback sensitivity to prednisolone in chronic fatigue syndrome.. Psychoneuroendocrinology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2006.12.005
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-jerjes-2007-enhanced-feedback,
author = {Jerjes, Walid K and Taylor, Norman F and Wood, Peter J and Cleare, Anthony J},
title = {Enhanced feedback sensitivity to prednisolone in chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Psychoneuroendocrinology},
year = {2007},
doi = {10.1016/j.psyneuen.2006.12.005},
note = {PubMed: 17276605},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jerjes-2007-enhanced-feedback},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jerjes-2007-enhanced-feedback
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