ReviewBMC medicine2013
A narrative review on the similarities and dissimilarities between myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and sickness behavior.
Review in BMC medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 74 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations Between Psychological and Immunological Variables in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully on Cancer-Related Fatigue and Cytokine Levels in Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients.Integrative cancer therapiesTrial
- Symptom clusters in ME/CFS reflect distinct neuroimmune and autonomic pathophysiological mechanisms: a translational model.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- [Pain and fatigue therapy in children and adolescents (SHARK): care model and initial evaluation results].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2026Article
- Regional Molecular Changes in Chronic Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Neuroinflammation.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- The clinical features and potential mechanisms of cognitive disorders in peripheral autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.Fundamental research · 2024Review
- Integrated 'omics analysis for the gut microbiota response to moxibustion in a rat model of chronic fatigue syndrome.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2023Article
- Inflammatory Cytokines Are Associated with Cognitive Dysfunction and Depressive State during Acute Bacterial Infections and the Recovery Phase.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Observational
- Chromosomal and gonadal factors regulate microglial sex effects in the aging brain.Brain research bulletin · 2023Review
- Persistent SARS-CoV-2 Infection, EBV, HHV-6 and Other Factors May Contribute to Inflammation and Autoimmunity in Long COVID.Viruses · 2023Review
- Converging Evidence of Similar Symptomatology of ME/CFS and PASC Indicating Multisystemic Dyshomeostasis.Biomedicines · 2023Review
- Redox regulation of the immune response.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2022Review
- Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection: relationship of central nervous system manifestations with physical disability and systemic inflammation.Psychological medicine · 2022Article
- In COVID-19, NLRP3 inflammasome genetic variants are associated with critical disease and these effects are partly mediated by the sickness symptom complex: a nomothetic network approach.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Article
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy of Patients with Somatic Symptoms-Diagnostic and Therapeutic Difficulties.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
- The pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2: A suggested model and therapeutic approach.Life sciences · 2020Review
- Differentiating Psychosomatic, Somatopsychic, Multisystem Illnesses, and Medical Uncertainty.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Review
- Socioeconomic Deprivation, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Medical Disorders in Adulthood: Mechanisms and Associations.Molecular neurobiology · 2019Review
- Review
- Myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome: how could the illness develop?Metabolic brain disease · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
It is of importance whether myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a variant of sickness behavior. The latter is induced by acute infections/injury being principally mediated through proinflammatory cytokines. Sickness is a beneficial behavioral response that serves to enhance recovery, conserves energy and plays a role in the resolution of inflammation. There are behavioral/symptomatic similarities (for example, fatigue, malaise, hyperalgesia) and dissimilarities (gastrointestinal symptoms, anorexia and weight loss) between sickness and ME/CFS. While sickness is an adaptive response induced by proinflammatory cytokines, ME/CFS is a chronic, disabling disorder, where the pathophysiology is related to activation of immunoinflammatory and oxidative pathways and autoimmune responses. While sickness behavior is a state of energy conservation, which plays a role in combating pathogens, ME/CFS is a chronic disease underpinned by a state of energy depletion. While sickness is an acute response to infection/injury, the trigger factors in ME/CFS are less well defined and encompass acute and chronic infections, as well as inflammatory or autoimmune diseases. It is concluded that sickness behavior and ME/CFS are two different conditions.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.