ArticleFrontiers in neurology2020
How Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Progresses: The Natural History of ME/CFS.
Article in Frontiers in neurology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 101 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health-related quality of life in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Post COVID-19 Condition: a systematic review.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Genetics of COVID-19 and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: a systematic review.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2022Pooled it
- Multimodal approach to identify neuropsychophysiological subgroups in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and their relevance for rehabilitation: protocol for a mechanistic cross-sectional and longitudinal study.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Two-timepoint multidomain follow-up of post-COVID condition and ME/CFS: overlapping autonomic, small-fiber, and cognitive changes.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- Immunomodulatory and locomotor regulations via Diosgenin treatment in lipopolysaccharide-induced chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)/ depressive despair symptom: an in vivo assessment.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Increased physical performance after personalised physiotherapy and nutritional counselling in adults with post-COVID-19 condition: a feasibility randomised trial.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Chronic stress and cognitive dysfunction in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: HPA axis dysregulation and hippocampal plasticity.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Overcoming barriers in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome research: the CureME participatory model.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Aberrant recruitment of the striatum and insula is associated with recalling and suppressing fatigue- and anger-related memories in people with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Abnormal T-Cell activation and cytotoxic T-Cell frequency discriminate symptom severity in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Metabolic neuroimaging of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and Long-COVID.Immunometabolism (Cobham, Surrey) · 2025Review
- C-reactive protein is associated with pain-type somatic symptoms independent of mental health symptoms in adolescents: Evidence from the ALSPAC study.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- How pandemics reshape our brain: Common links and targets between long-haul COVID-19, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), oxidative stress, and neurodegeneration.Neuroprotection (Chichester, England) · 2025Article
- Circulating FGF-21 as a Disease-Modifying Factor Associated with Distinct Symptoms and Cognitive Profiles in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Fibromyalgia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- The Implications and Predictability of Sleep Reversal for People with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Machine Learning Approach.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The potential therapeutic approaches targeting gut health in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS): a narrative review.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Review
- Key Pathophysiological Role of Skeletal Muscle Disturbance in Post COVID and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): Accumulated Evidence.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2025Review
- A pilot cross-sectional investigation of symptom clusters and associations with patient-reported outcomes in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Post COVID-19 Condition.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2024Article
- What is the occupational impact of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome for adults living in Australia?The British journal of occupational therapy · 2024Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
We propose a framework for understanding and interpreting the pathophysiology of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) that considers wider determinants of health and long-term temporal variation in pathophysiological features and disease phenotype throughout the natural history of the disease. As in other chronic diseases, ME/CFS evolves through different stages, from asymptomatic predisposition, progressing to a prodromal stage, and then to symptomatic disease. Disease incidence depends on genetic makeup and environment factors, the exposure to singular or repeated insults, and the nature of the host response. In people who develop ME/CFS, normal homeostatic processes in response to adverse insults may be replaced by aberrant responses leading to dysfunctional states. Thus, the predominantly neuro-immune manifestations, underlined by a hyper-metabolic state, that characterize early disease, may be followed by various processes leading to multi-systemic abnormalities and related symptoms. This abnormal state and the effects of a range of mediators such as products of oxidative and nitrosamine stress, may lead to progressive cell and metabolic dysfunction culminating in a hypometabolic state with low energy production. These processes do not seem to happen uniformly; although a spiraling of progressive inter-related and self-sustaining abnormalities may ensue, reversion to states of milder abnormalities is possible if the host is able to restate responses to improve homeostatic equilibrium. With time variation in disease presentation, no single ME/CFS case description, set of diagnostic criteria, or molecular feature is currently representative of all patients at different disease stages. While acknowledging its limitations due to the incomplete research evidence, we suggest the proposed framework may support future research design and health care interventions for people with ME/CFS.
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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.