Pampiglione, G, Harris, R, Kennedy, J · Postgraduate medical journal · 1978 · DOI
Researchers used EEG brain scans to study 36 young adults and 12 children with ME/CFS from the 1950s-1970s. They found that the brain activity patterns were slightly abnormal and varied between patients, suggesting that ME/CFS affects how the brain functions. The study suggests that future research should include regular EEG monitoring over 2-3 years to better understand these brain changes.
This study provides early objective neurophysiological evidence that ME/CFS involves measurable changes in brain electrical activity, supporting the biological basis of the disease. For patients, it validates that brain dysfunction is a real feature of ME/CFS, not purely psychological. It establishes a methodological framework for using EEG as a potential diagnostic tool in future ME/CFS research.
This study does not identify the cause of the EEG abnormalities or prove a specific mechanism of illness. The modest and variable EEG findings do not establish whether these changes are specific to ME/CFS or occur in other conditions. The lack of contemporaneous healthy controls prevents firm conclusions about whether observed patterns are definitively abnormal.
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 →
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