An editorial paper, published earlier this month calls for “more cutting edge research” relating to fatigue, “especially to improve care for millions of people suffering from severely debilitating ME/CFS”
The article – authored by Dr Slawomir Kujawski, alongside Profs. Jo Nijs, and Julia Newton, also highlighted the importance of a study funded by ME Research UK, with the financial support of The Fred and Joan Davies Bequest – carried out by Dr Leighton Barnden and his team in Australia.
Kujawski and colleagues stated that the study by Barnden, which was published in March 2023, is a “very important step” in ME/CFS research – particularly a finding which demonstrated that in people with ME/CFS, symptoms of the disease including pain, and breathing difficulties, were associated with volume changes in multiple areas of the brain (the pons, midbrain, and whole brainstem).
ME Research UK notes that although fatigue is indeed a key, and debilitating symptom of ME/CFS which does require more investigation, research into post exertional malaise (PEM) – often referred to as the cardinal feature of the disease, should be prioritised.
You can read more about the experience of PEM in people with ME/CFS in a recent two-part article series by ME Research UK – Part 1 and Part 2
