Guidance
- There is no validated biomarker for ME/CFS. Several candidates exist (immune, metabolic, neurological), but none have reached clinical use.
- Subtyping is urgently needed — ME/CFS likely encompasses multiple pathophysiological subtypes, and treating it as homogeneous weakens study power.
- Severe and very severe cohorts are dramatically underrepresented in research due to the practical difficulty of including housebound and bedbound participants.
- Long COVID research has created renewed interest and funding — the overlap with ME/CFS biology is substantial and offers a window for collaborative investigation.
- Longitudinal studies with objective measures (2-day CPET, imaging, metabolomics) remain rare but are essential for understanding disease progression.
If you read one thing
Deep dive · 10+ min
Evidence Atlas
Browse and filter structured studies by topic, evidence level, and paradigm.
Read this →Recommended reads
About ME/CFS Atlas
Standard · 3 min
Our evidence rating framework, curation methodology, and editorial principles.
ME/CFS and Long COVID review
Deep dive · 10+ min
A comprehensive literature road map covering shared biological abnormalities.
CBT/GET critique (Twisk 2009)
Standard · 3 min
The biomedical vs. biopsychosocial paradigm — what the evidence shows.
Metabolomics in ME/CFS
Deep dive · 10+ min
Landmark metabolomics study revealing a distinct metabolic signature in ME/CFS.
More resources are available in the Atlas and Evidence sections.