Nunes, Jean M, Kell, Douglas B, Pretorius, Etheresia · Blood reviews · 2023 · DOI
This review examines how the heart, blood vessels, and blood clotting system may be affected in ME/CFS. Research shows that ME/CFS patients often have problems with blood flow to the brain, abnormal blood clotting, and damaged blood vessel linings—similar to what happens in Long COVID. These cardiovascular and blood abnormalities may contribute to ME/CFS symptoms and could potentially become targets for new treatments.
Understanding that ME/CFS involves cardiovascular and blood clotting abnormalities—rather than just deconditioning or psychiatric causes—validates patient experiences of physical dysfunction and opens new therapeutic avenues. This work also bridges ME/CFS and Long COVID research, potentially accelerating progress in both conditions. Targeting these systems could lead to treatments that directly address underlying biological mechanisms.
This review does not establish causation—it identifies associations and correlations in published literature. It does not prove that cardiovascular/haematological abnormalities are the primary cause of ME/CFS symptoms, only that they are present and may contribute. The role of specific pathogens in driving these abnormalities remains inferential and requires further empirical validation.
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
Nunes, Jean M, Kell, Douglas B, & Pretorius, Etheresia (2023). Cardiovascular and haematological pathology in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS): A role for viruses.. Blood reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.blre.2023.101075
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-nunes-2023-cardiovascular-haematological,
author = {Nunes, Jean M and Kell, Douglas B and Pretorius, Etheresia},
title = {Cardiovascular and haematological pathology in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS): A role for viruses.},
journal = {Blood reviews},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1016/j.blre.2023.101075},
note = {PubMed: 36963989},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/nunes-2023-cardiovascular-haematological},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/nunes-2023-cardiovascular-haematological
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.