Brittain, Esme, Muirhead, Nina, Finlay, Andrew Y et al. · Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021 · DOI
This study looked at how ME/CFS affects the quality of life of patients and their family members using two surveys. The researchers found that ME/CFS seriously damages patients' quality of life, particularly in physical health, and also significantly impacts the wellbeing of partners and family members who care for them. The study shows that family members experience worry, sadness, and difficulty maintaining normal family activities because of their loved one's illness.
This study provides quantitative evidence that ME/CFS creates a disease burden extending beyond patients to their entire families, supporting the need for family-centered clinical care and psychosocial support services. It demonstrates the importance of using validated family outcome measures in clinical practice to identify and address the hidden impact on caregivers and loved ones.
This study does not establish causation or identify which specific ME/CFS features (symptom severity, duration, type) most drive family impact. The small sample size and postal survey methodology limit generalizability, and the cross-sectional design cannot track whether family quality of life changes over time with disease progression or treatment.
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
Brittain, Esme, Muirhead, Nina, Finlay, Andrew Y, & Vyas, Jui (2021). Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): Major Impact on Lives of Both Patients and Family Members.. Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania). https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina57010043
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-brittain-2021-myalgic-encephalomyelitis,
author = {Brittain, Esme and Muirhead, Nina and Finlay, Andrew Y and Vyas, Jui},
title = {Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): Major Impact on Lives of Both Patients and Family Members.},
journal = {Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania)},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.3390/medicina57010043},
note = {PubMed: 33430175},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/brittain-2021-myalgic-encephalomyelitis},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/brittain-2021-myalgic-encephalomyelitis
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