Klinge, Carolyn M, Clark, Barbara J, Prough, Russell A · Vitamins and hormones · 2018 · DOI
This is a historical review of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a hormone that naturally decreases with age. Scientists have studied whether DHEA might help with various health conditions including chronic fatigue syndrome, but the evidence in humans is limited. While some benefits have been found in postmenopausal women and certain autoimmune disorders, most human studies show only weak connections between DHEA levels and disease outcomes.
This review is relevant to ME/CFS research because it explicitly examines DHEA's potential role in chronic fatigue syndrome, explores hormonal dysregulation mechanisms, and evaluates gaps between promising animal data and limited human evidence. Understanding DHEA's biological mechanisms and the current state of clinical evidence may inform future investigations into neuroendocrine dysfunction in ME/CFS patients.
This review does not demonstrate that DHEA is an effective treatment for ME/CFS in humans; it explicitly notes that mechanisms of action in animal models remain poorly understood and that human studies show only weak correlations between DHEA levels and disease outcomes. The historical and mechanistic focus does not provide new clinical trial data or definitive evidence regarding DHEA's therapeutic utility for any condition.
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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Primary citation
Klinge, Carolyn M, Clark, Barbara J, & Prough, Russell A (2018). Dehydroepiandrosterone Research: Past, Current, and Future.. Vitamins and hormones. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.vh.2018.02.002
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-klinge-2018-dehydroepiandrosterone-research,
author = {Klinge, Carolyn M and Clark, Barbara J and Prough, Russell A},
title = {Dehydroepiandrosterone Research: Past, Current, and Future.},
journal = {Vitamins and hormones},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1016/bs.vh.2018.02.002},
note = {PubMed: 30029723},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/klinge-2018-dehydroepiandrosterone-research},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/klinge-2018-dehydroepiandrosterone-research
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