Soderlund, Atle, Malterud, Kirsti · Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2005 · DOI
This study asked eight women with ME/CFS about what they thought caused their illness. The women felt that stress, overwork without rest, emotional problems, and pressure to meet others' expectations may have made them more vulnerable to ME/CFS. Most believed a virus infection triggered their condition, and some thought women might catch viruses more easily or have weaker immune systems than men.
This study provides insight into how patients themselves understand ME/CFS causation, which is important for patient-centered care and shared decision-making. Understanding these attributions can help clinicians recognize common patient perceptions and build better therapeutic relationships, while also highlighting the need for research integrating biological and social factors in ME/CFS pathogenesis.
This study does not prove what actually causes ME/CFS—it only describes what eight women believed caused their own illness. The findings reflect patient perceptions rather than biological mechanisms, and the small, self-selected sample cannot be generalized to all ME/CFS patients or confirm any causal hypothesis about viral infection, immune function, or gender differences.
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
Soderlund, Atle & Malterud, Kirsti (2005). Why did I get chronic fatigue syndrome? A qualitative interview study of causal attributions in women patients.. Scandinavian journal of primary health care. https://doi.org/10.1080/02813430500254034
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-soderlund-2005-why-did,
author = {Soderlund, Atle and Malterud, Kirsti},
title = {Why did I get chronic fatigue syndrome? A qualitative interview study of causal attributions in women patients.},
journal = {Scandinavian journal of primary health care},
year = {2005},
doi = {10.1080/02813430500254034},
note = {PubMed: 16272074},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/soderlund-2005-why-did},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/soderlund-2005-why-did
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