Naschitz, J E, Rosner, I, Rozenbaum, M et al. · QJM : monthly journal of the Association of Physicians · 2004 · DOI
This study looked at how the heart and blood vessels respond to changes in body position (lying down versus standing up) in people with ME/CFS compared to healthy people and those with other conditions. Researchers used a simple test where patients lie down and then tilt upright while measuring heart rate and blood vessel changes. They found that people with ME/CFS have a distinctive pattern of heart and blood vessel responses that could help doctors identify the condition.
This research suggests that ME/CFS has a measurable, disease-specific pattern of autonomic nervous system dysfunction that could potentially aid in diagnosis. For patients, this offers biological evidence that ME/CFS involves real, detectable physiological abnormalities rather than being purely psychological, and points toward a potential diagnostic tool.
This study does not establish what causes the abnormal CVR patterns in ME/CFS, nor does it prove that CVR testing alone can reliably diagnose ME/CFS in clinical practice (sensitivity of 90% still misses 10% of cases). The cross-sectional design cannot determine whether these CVR patterns develop as a cause or consequence of 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
Naschitz, J E, Rosner, I, Rozenbaum, M, Fields, M, Isseroff, H, Babich, J P, et al. (2004). Patterns of cardiovascular reactivity in disease diagnosis.. QJM : monthly journal of the Association of Physicians. https://doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/hch032
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-naschitz-2004-patterns-cardiovascular,
author = {Naschitz, J E and Rosner, I and Rozenbaum, M and Fields, M and Isseroff, H and Babich, J P and Zuckerman, E and Elias, N and Yeshurun, D and Naschitz, S and Sabo, E},
title = {Patterns of cardiovascular reactivity in disease diagnosis.},
journal = {QJM : monthly journal of the Association of Physicians},
year = {2004},
doi = {10.1093/qjmed/hch032},
note = {PubMed: 14976271},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/naschitz-2004-patterns-cardiovascular},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/naschitz-2004-patterns-cardiovascular
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