Katz, Ben Z, Boas, Steven, Shiraishi, Yukiko et al. · The Journal of pediatrics · 2010 · DOI
After infectious mononucleosis, some teenagers develop ME/CFS. Researchers compared how well teenagers with ME/CFS could exercise compared to teenagers who recovered normally from mono. Teenagers with ME/CFS showed lower oxygen use and heart efficiency during exercise tests, even though they looked the same as healthy teens in other ways.
This study provides objective physiological evidence that ME/CFS can emerge after infectious mononucleosis in adolescents and is associated with measurable impairments in oxygen utilization and cardiac efficiency during exercise. Understanding the exercise physiology of post-infectious ME/CFS may help identify pathophysiological mechanisms and guide rehabilitation strategies for this population.
This study does not establish whether the reduced exercise capacity is a cause or consequence of CFS development, nor can it determine if abnormalities are due to deconditioning versus primary physiological dysfunction. The cross-sectional nature of the exercise testing cannot establish the temporal relationship between exercise abnormalities and CFS symptom onset.
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
Katz, Ben Z, Boas, Steven, Shiraishi, Yukiko, Mears, Cynthia J, & Taylor, Renee (2010). Exercise tolerance testing in a prospective cohort of adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome and recovered controls following infectious mononucleosis.. The Journal of pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2010.03.025
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-katz-2010-exercise-tolerance,
author = {Katz, Ben Z and Boas, Steven and Shiraishi, Yukiko and Mears, Cynthia J and Taylor, Renee},
title = {Exercise tolerance testing in a prospective cohort of adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome and recovered controls following infectious mononucleosis.},
journal = {The Journal of pediatrics},
year = {2010},
doi = {10.1016/j.jpeds.2010.03.025},
note = {PubMed: 20447647},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/katz-2010-exercise-tolerance},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/katz-2010-exercise-tolerance
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