Liu, Xinyi, Liu, Sitong, Ren, Runtao et al. · Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023 · DOI
This study looked at 249 people with ME/CFS to understand how anxiety and depression relate to a specific brain activity pattern called P50 sensory gating. Researchers used questionnaires to measure anxiety and depression, and brain scans (EEG) to measure how well the brain filters out repetitive sounds. They found that abnormal filtering of sounds was linked to anxiety, depression, and fatigue severity.
Understanding the relationship between psychiatric symptoms and brain sensory processing in ME/CFS may help explain why many patients experience overlapping anxiety and depression, and could point toward new treatment approaches targeting brain function rather than treating mood symptoms in isolation.
This study does not prove that anxiety and depression cause abnormal sensory gating, or vice versa—the correlation could reflect a shared underlying biological mechanism. It also does not establish that P50 sensory gating is useful for diagnosing ME/CFS, nor does it explain whether psychiatric symptoms are primary features of ME/CFS or secondary consequences of the 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
Liu, Xinyi, Liu, Sitong, Ren, Runtao, Wang, Xue, Han, Chunyu, & Liu, Zhandong (2023). A cross-sectional study exploring the relationship between symptoms of anxiety/depression and P50 sensory gating in adult patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.. Frontiers in neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1286340
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-liu-2023-cross-sectional,
author = {Liu, Xinyi and Liu, Sitong and Ren, Runtao and Wang, Xue and Han, Chunyu and Liu, Zhandong},
title = {A cross-sectional study exploring the relationship between symptoms of anxiety/depression and P50 sensory gating in adult patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.},
journal = {Frontiers in neuroscience},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.3389/fnins.2023.1286340},
note = {PubMed: 38249591},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/liu-2023-cross-sectional},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/liu-2023-cross-sectional
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