Ottenweller, J E, Sisto, S A, McCarty, R C et al. · Neuropsychobiology · 2001 · DOI
This study compared how the bodies of ME/CFS patients and healthy people respond to exercise, specifically looking at hormones—chemical messengers that regulate many body functions. Researchers found that ME/CFS patients had weaker responses in several key stress hormones (like adrenaline) immediately after exercise, but hormone levels returned to normal by the next day, suggesting that abnormal hormones may not be the main reason why ME/CFS patients feel worse after exertion.
Understanding whether ME/CFS symptoms after exertion are driven by hormonal abnormalities is crucial for developing targeted treatments. This study directly addresses the biological mechanisms behind post-exertional malaise, one of the defining features of ME/CFS that severely restricts patients' activities.
This study does not prove that hormones play no role in ME/CFS—it only shows that abnormal long-term hormonal changes after exercise are unlikely to be the primary cause of postexertional fatigue. The blunted acute hormone responses observed could still contribute to other aspects of the disease. Additionally, the findings are limited to a single maximal exercise bout and may not reflect responses to repeated or submaximal exertion.
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
Ottenweller, J E, Sisto, S A, McCarty, R C, & Natelson, B H (2001). Hormonal responses to exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome.. Neuropsychobiology. https://doi.org/10.1159/000054863
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-ottenweller-2001-hormonal-responses,
author = {Ottenweller, J E and Sisto, S A and McCarty, R C and Natelson, B H},
title = {Hormonal responses to exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Neuropsychobiology},
year = {2001},
doi = {10.1159/000054863},
note = {PubMed: 11150897},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/ottenweller-2001-hormonal-responses},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/ottenweller-2001-hormonal-responses
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