Cleare, Anthony J, Reid, Steven, Chalder, Trudie et al. · BMJ clinical evidence · 2015
This research review looked at treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and found that the condition affects between 0.006% and 3% of people depending on how it's diagnosed, with women more commonly affected than men. The researchers searched multiple medical databases for studies on four main treatments: antidepressants, cognitive behavioral therapy (a type of talk therapy), corticosteroids (anti-inflammatory drugs), and graded exercise therapy. They carefully reviewed 15 high-quality studies to evaluate how well these treatments work and whether they're safe.
This systematic review is important because ME/CFS affects a significant proportion of the population and currently lacks universally effective treatments. By synthesizing evidence from multiple high-quality studies, this overview provides clinicians and patients with a comprehensive assessment of which treatments have scientific support, helping guide treatment decisions and research priorities.
This review does not establish which single treatment is universally most effective, as the strength of evidence varies across interventions and patient subgroups. It also does not prove causation or explain the biological mechanisms underlying why these treatments may or may not work for ME/CFS, nor does it address long-term outcomes beyond the timeframes studied in individual trials.
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
Cleare, Anthony J, Reid, Steven, Chalder, Trudie, Hotopf, Matthew, & Wessely, Simon (2015). Chronic fatigue syndrome.. BMJ clinical evidence. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26415100/
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-cleare-2015-chronic-fatigue,
author = {Cleare, Anthony J and Reid, Steven and Chalder, Trudie and Hotopf, Matthew and Wessely, Simon},
title = {Chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {BMJ clinical evidence},
year = {2015},
note = {PubMed: 26415100},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cleare-2015-chronic-fatigue},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cleare-2015-chronic-fatigue
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.