Clayton, Ellen Wright · JAMA · 2015 · DOI
This influential 2015 report from the Institute of Medicine recommended that doctors use a new name and definition for ME/CFS to better reflect what the illness actually is. The report emphasized that ME/CFS is a serious medical condition with real biological causes, not a psychological problem. It called for improved recognition, diagnosis, and research to help the millions of people living with this debilitating illness.
This report significantly elevated the legitimacy of ME/CFS within the medical and scientific communities by positioning it as a serious organic illness requiring urgent research funding and clinical attention. The new diagnostic framework helps patients gain recognition, improve access to appropriate care, and shifts the research focus toward identifying biological mechanisms rather than psychological causes.
This report does not present original research data or prove specific biological mechanisms causing ME/CFS—it is a consensus review of existing evidence. It does not establish causation for any particular factor in ME/CFS development, nor does it validate specific diagnostic tests or biomarkers, as these remain areas of ongoing investigation.
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
Clayton, Ellen Wright (2015). Beyond myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: an IOM report on redefining an illness.. JAMA. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2015.1346
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-clayton-2015-beyond-myalgic,
author = {Clayton, Ellen Wright},
title = {Beyond myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: an IOM report on redefining an illness.},
journal = {JAMA},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1001/jama.2015.1346},
note = {PubMed: 25668027},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/clayton-2015-beyond-myalgic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/clayton-2015-beyond-myalgic
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