Kim, Byung-Hoon, Namkoong, Kee, Kim, Jae-Jin et al. · Psychiatry research · 2015 · DOI
This study used brain scans to examine how different regions of the brain communicate with each other in women with ME/CFS compared to healthy women. Researchers found that certain brain areas involved in attention and emotion showed increased communication in ME/CFS patients, and this increased activity was linked to symptom severity. Interestingly, the overall efficiency of brain network communication was reduced in people with ME/CFS, suggesting the brain may be working harder to accomplish its tasks.
Understanding the brain's functional organization in ME/CFS is crucial for establishing biological basis for the condition and moving beyond attributing it primarily to psychological causes. These findings suggest measurable neurobiological differences that correlate with fatigue severity, potentially enabling future diagnostic biomarkers and more targeted treatments.
This study does not prove that abnormal brain connectivity causes ME/CFS symptoms—it only shows correlation. The findings cannot be generalized to men or to CFS patients with different symptom profiles. Cross-sectional design prevents determining whether the altered connectivity patterns precede illness onset or result from prolonged 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
Kim, Byung-Hoon, Namkoong, Kee, Kim, Jae-Jin, Lee, Seojung, Yoon, Kang Joon, Choi, Moonjong, et al. (2015). Altered resting-state functional connectivity in women with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Psychiatry research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2015.10.014
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kim-2015-altered-resting,
author = {Kim, Byung-Hoon and Namkoong, Kee and Kim, Jae-Jin and Lee, Seojung and Yoon, Kang Joon and Choi, Moonjong and Jung, Young-Chul},
title = {Altered resting-state functional connectivity in women with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Psychiatry research},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1016/j.pscychresns.2015.10.014},
note = {PubMed: 26602611},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kim-2015-altered-resting},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kim-2015-altered-resting
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