Loganovsky, Konstantyn, Perchuk, Iryna, Marazziti, Donatella · The world journal of biological psychiatry : the official journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry · 2016 · DOI
This study followed 196 workers who helped clean up and secure the damaged Chernobyl nuclear reactor between 2004 and 2008. Researchers tested their brain electrical activity and thinking skills before and after the work. The workers showed changes in brain wave patterns and developed mild memory and concentration problems after exposure to radiation, similar to symptoms seen in chronic fatigue syndrome.
This study demonstrates that occupational radiation exposure can produce cognitive dysfunction and brain electrophysiological abnormalities similar to chronic fatigue syndrome, providing a mechanistic model for understanding how environmental stressors may trigger or exacerbate ME/CFS-like conditions. The findings support investigation of radiation and similar toxic exposures as potential triggers for post-exertional malaise and cognitive symptoms in ME/CFS.
This study does not establish causation definitively—correlation between radiation exposure and cognitive changes does not prove a direct causal mechanism. The study population consists exclusively of radiation-exposed workers and lacks a control group of unexposed individuals for direct comparison. The study does not determine whether these changes are permanent, reversible with time, or would respond to specific treatments.
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
Loganovsky, Konstantyn, Perchuk, Iryna, & Marazziti, Donatella (2016). Workers on transformation of the shelter object of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant into an ecologically-safe system show qEEG abnormalities and cognitive dysfunctions: A follow-up study.. The world journal of biological psychiatry : the official journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.3109/15622975.2015.1042044
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-loganovsky-2016-workers-transformation,
author = {Loganovsky, Konstantyn and Perchuk, Iryna and Marazziti, Donatella},
title = {Workers on transformation of the shelter object of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant into an ecologically-safe system show qEEG abnormalities and cognitive dysfunctions: A follow-up study.},
journal = {The world journal of biological psychiatry : the official journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry},
year = {2016},
doi = {10.3109/15622975.2015.1042044},
note = {PubMed: 26005105},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/loganovsky-2016-workers-transformation},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/loganovsky-2016-workers-transformation
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