Bileviciute-Ljungar, Indre, Schult, Marie-Louise, Borg, Kristian et al. · Journal of rehabilitation medicine · 2020 · DOI
Researchers studied 100 ME/CFS patients to identify which body functions, activities, and life areas are most affected by the illness. They found that nearly all patients experience severe fatigue, poor sleep, and pain, while most struggle with work, household tasks, and socializing. This study created a standardized checklist that doctors can use to understand and measure how ME/CFS impacts different aspects of patients' lives.
This study provides a standardized, evidence-based classification system for measuring the multidimensional impacts of ME/CFS across physical, cognitive, and social domains—essential for consistent clinical assessment and rehabilitation planning. Having a validated ICF Core Set improves communication between patients and healthcare providers and enables researchers to measure treatment outcomes using a common language.
This study does not establish causality or mechanisms underlying ME/CFS symptoms, nor does it validate the Core Set through prospective testing or comparison with other disease cohorts. Being observational and cross-sectional, it cannot determine whether symptom patterns change over time or differ between disease stages. The study also does not test whether this Core Set can reliably predict treatment outcomes or prognosis.
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
Bileviciute-Ljungar, Indre, Schult, Marie-Louise, Borg, Kristian, & Ekholm, Jan (2020). Preliminary ICF core set for patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome in rehabilitation medicine.. Journal of rehabilitation medicine. https://doi.org/10.2340/16501977-2697
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-bileviciute-ljungar-2020-preliminary-icf,
author = {Bileviciute-Ljungar, Indre and Schult, Marie-Louise and Borg, Kristian and Ekholm, Jan},
title = {Preliminary ICF core set for patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome in rehabilitation medicine.},
journal = {Journal of rehabilitation medicine},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.2340/16501977-2697},
note = {PubMed: 32488281},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/bileviciute-ljungar-2020-preliminary-icf},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/bileviciute-ljungar-2020-preliminary-icf
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