Surendran, Gopika, Jose, Tony P · Applied neuropsychology. Adult · 2024 · DOI
This study examined whether people's life experiences and education—called 'cognitive reserve'—help protect them from the thinking and memory problems common in ME/CFS. Researchers tested 91 people with ME/CFS and found that those with more cognitive reserve had fewer cognitive problems. The severity of someone's ME/CFS was the main factor affecting both cognitive reserve and cognitive problems, rather than age or gender.
Understanding what protects some ME/CFS patients from severe cognitive problems could inform new treatment strategies. This research suggests that life experiences and education may help people maintain cognitive function despite having ME/CFS, offering hope that interventions to build cognitive reserve might help manage this symptom.
This study shows an association between cognitive reserve and cognitive impairment, but cannot prove that having more cognitive reserve causes better cognitive outcomes—the two may be linked through other factors. The cross-sectional design means we cannot determine whether cognitive reserve develops before CFS onset or is affected by the illness itself. The findings apply only to the study population and may not generalize to all ME/CFS patients.
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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Primary citation
Surendran, Gopika & Jose, Tony P (2024). Cognitive reserve as a protective factor against cognitive impairment in chronic fatigue syndrome.. Applied neuropsychology. Adult. https://doi.org/10.1080/23279095.2024.2434557
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-surendran-2024-cognitive-reserve,
author = {Surendran, Gopika and Jose, Tony P},
title = {Cognitive reserve as a protective factor against cognitive impairment in chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Applied neuropsychology. Adult},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1080/23279095.2024.2434557},
note = {PubMed: 39668716},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/surendran-2024-cognitive-reserve},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/surendran-2024-cognitive-reserve
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