Nijs, Jo, Demol, Seppe, Wallman, Karen · Archives of medical research · 2007 · DOI
Researchers tested whether measurements taken during moderate-intensity exercise could predict how much energy a person with ME/CFS could produce during their maximum effort. In 222 women with ME/CFS, oxygen use at moderate intensity correlated well with peak oxygen use, but the prediction had too much variation to be reliable for individual patients.
Understanding exercise capacity in ME/CFS is crucial for diagnosis, prognosis, and rehabilitation planning. This study helps clarify whether less exhausting submaximal testing could reduce risk when assessing ME/CFS patients, though it also reveals important limitations in predictive accuracy that patients and clinicians should understand.
This study does not establish causation or mechanisms behind exercise limitations in ME/CFS. The prediction equation cannot be reliably used for individual patient assessment (prediction errors ranged up to 63.7%), and findings apply only to women; applicability to men or other populations remains unknown. Correlation does not explain why exercise capacity varies among individuals with similar submaximal responses.
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
Nijs, Jo, Demol, Seppe, & Wallman, Karen (2007). Can submaximal exercise variables predict peak exercise performance in women with chronic fatigue syndrome?. Archives of medical research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arcmed.2006.10.009
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-nijs-2007-can-submaximal,
author = {Nijs, Jo and Demol, Seppe and Wallman, Karen},
title = {Can submaximal exercise variables predict peak exercise performance in women with chronic fatigue syndrome?},
journal = {Archives of medical research},
year = {2007},
doi = {10.1016/j.arcmed.2006.10.009},
note = {PubMed: 17350488},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/nijs-2007-can-submaximal},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/nijs-2007-can-submaximal
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