Zeller, Bernward, Ruud, Ellen, Havard Loge, Jon et al. · Psychosomatics · 2014 · DOI
This study looked at cancer survivors who experience chronic fatigue and compared them to survivors without fatigue. Researchers measured symptoms, stress hormones, and how the body responds to position changes. People with chronic fatigue reported more pain, confusion, and symptoms like heart palpitations and temperature sensitivity, though their heart responses to standing were similar to those without fatigue.
This study bridges an important gap by examining whether chronic fatigue in cancer survivors shares biological mechanisms with ME/CFS, including neuroendocrine and autonomic dysfunction. Understanding these shared features could improve recognition and clinical management of post-cancer fatigue and inform understanding of fatigue pathophysiology more broadly.
This study does not prove that cancer survivors' fatigue is identical to ME/CFS or that cancer treatment causes ME/CFS. The neuroendocrine alterations are subtle and correlation does not establish causation. The cross-sectional design cannot determine whether biomarker changes preceded or resulted from fatigue symptoms.
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
Zeller, Bernward, Ruud, Ellen, Havard Loge, Jon, Kanellopoulos, Adriani, Hamre, Hanne, Godang, Kristin, et al. (2014). Chronic fatigue in adult survivors of childhood cancer: associated symptoms, neuroendocrine markers, and autonomic cardiovascular responses.. Psychosomatics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psym.2013.12.005
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-zeller-2014-chronic-fatigue,
author = {Zeller, Bernward and Ruud, Ellen and Havard Loge, Jon and Kanellopoulos, Adriani and Hamre, Hanne and Godang, Kristin and Bruun Wyller, Vegard},
title = {Chronic fatigue in adult survivors of childhood cancer: associated symptoms, neuroendocrine markers, and autonomic cardiovascular responses.},
journal = {Psychosomatics},
year = {2014},
doi = {10.1016/j.psym.2013.12.005},
note = {PubMed: 24656688},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/zeller-2014-chronic-fatigue},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/zeller-2014-chronic-fatigue
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