LaManca, J J, Peckerman, A, Sisto, S A et al. · Psychosomatic medicine · 2001 · DOI
This study compared how the hearts and blood pressure of women with ME/CFS respond to stressful mental tasks compared to healthy women. Researchers found that women with ME/CFS had a weaker cardiovascular response to cognitive stress than healthy controls, and this pattern held true even after exercise. The study also found that women with more severe ME/CFS symptoms had the lowest cardiovascular responses to stress.
This research provides objective physiological evidence of abnormal stress responses in ME/CFS, which may help explain why patients report symptom worsening after physical or cognitive exertion. Understanding these cardiovascular dysregulation patterns could inform management strategies and validate the biological basis of post-exertional symptom flares that are central to ME/CFS experience.
This study does not prove that diminished stress reactivity *causes* ME/CFS symptoms or symptom severity; it only demonstrates a correlation. The study includes only women and sedentary controls, so findings may not generalize to men or active controls. The cross-sectional design cannot establish temporal relationships or determine whether the cardiovascular abnormality is primary or secondary to the disease.
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
LaManca, J J, Peckerman, A, Sisto, S A, DeLuca, J, Cook, S, & Natelson, B H (2001). Cardiovascular responses of women with chronic fatigue syndrome to stressful cognitive testing before and after strenuous exercise.. Psychosomatic medicine. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006842-200109000-00009
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-lamanca-2001-cardiovascular-responses,
author = {LaManca, J J and Peckerman, A and Sisto, S A and DeLuca, J and Cook, S and Natelson, B H},
title = {Cardiovascular responses of women with chronic fatigue syndrome to stressful cognitive testing before and after strenuous exercise.},
journal = {Psychosomatic medicine},
year = {2001},
doi = {10.1097/00006842-200109000-00009},
note = {PubMed: 11573024},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/lamanca-2001-cardiovascular-responses},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/lamanca-2001-cardiovascular-responses
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