Naschitz, J E, Mussafia-Priselac, R, Peck, E R et al. · Journal of human hypertension · 2005 · DOI
This study looked at whether rapid, shallow breathing (hyperventilation) causes blood pressure to rise when people change position, such as standing up. Researchers tested 320 patients with various conditions including ME/CFS using a tilt table test while measuring breathing CO2 levels. They found that hyperventilation during the test did not lead to higher blood pressure increases, suggesting that rapid breathing may not be the cause of blood pressure problems in these patient groups.
Many ME/CFS patients experience orthostatic intolerance and abnormal blood pressure responses to position changes. This study addresses whether hyperventilation—a breathing pattern some patients exhibit—drives these cardiovascular symptoms, which could have implications for treatment approaches.
This study does not prove that hyperventilation never affects blood pressure in ME/CFS patients specifically, as the cohort was mixed and hyperventilation cases were few. It also does not establish causation in any direction, only correlation (or lack thereof). The findings may not apply to patients with more severe ME/CFS or different demographic characteristics.
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, Mussafia-Priselac, R, Peck, E R, Peck, S, Naftali, N, Storch, S, et al. (2005). Hyperventilation and amplified blood pressure response: is there a link?. Journal of human hypertension. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001830
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-naschitz-2005-hyperventilation-amplified,
author = {Naschitz, J E and Mussafia-Priselac, R and Peck, E R and Peck, S and Naftali, N and Storch, S and Slobodin, G and Elias, N and Rosner, I},
title = {Hyperventilation and amplified blood pressure response: is there a link?},
journal = {Journal of human hypertension},
year = {2005},
doi = {10.1038/sj.jhh.1001830},
note = {PubMed: 15838538},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/naschitz-2005-hyperventilation-amplified},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/naschitz-2005-hyperventilation-amplified
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