Rowe, K S · Journal of psychiatric research · 1997 · DOI
This study tested whether intravenous gammaglobulin (a treatment containing antibodies from donated blood) could help adolescents with ME/CFS. Seventy teenagers received either the real treatment or a placebo (fake treatment) given as three infusions over three months. Both groups showed improvement in their ability to attend school and participate in activities by six months, but the study could not prove the real treatment worked better than placebo.
This study addresses whether immune-modulating therapy might benefit adolescents with ME/CFS, a population often severely impacted. The rigorous double-blind design helps establish whether observed improvements are due to the treatment itself or other factors like natural recovery or placebo effect.
This study does not prove that intravenous gammaglobulin is ineffective for ME/CFS, as both groups improved substantially; it demonstrates no superiority over placebo. The study cannot determine whether observed improvements reflect natural disease course, placebo response, or effects unrelated to the immune mechanism being targeted. Longer-term follow-up and larger samples would be needed to definitively rule out benefit in specific subgroups.
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
Rowe, K S (1997). Double-blind randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy of intravenous gammaglobulin for the management of chronic fatigue syndrome in adolescents.. Journal of psychiatric research. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-3956(96)00047-7
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-rowe-1997-double-blind,
author = {Rowe, K S},
title = {Double-blind randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy of intravenous gammaglobulin for the management of chronic fatigue syndrome in adolescents.},
journal = {Journal of psychiatric research},
year = {1997},
doi = {10.1016/s0022-3956(96)00047-7},
note = {PubMed: 9201655},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/rowe-1997-double-blind},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/rowe-1997-double-blind
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