Cohen, Devra E, Sullivan, Kimberly A, McNeil, Rebecca B et al. · Life sciences · 2022 · DOI
This study created a standardized checklist of symptoms and tests that researchers should use when studying Gulf War Illness (GWI). Experts, veterans, and doctors worked together to decide which questions and measurements are most important to collect consistently across different research studies. This approach was based on a similar checklist already created for ME/CFS, allowing both conditions to use comparable research methods. Having this common language helps different research teams share and compare their findings more easily.
Standardized research methods are critical for advancing understanding of ME/CFS and related conditions like GWI. When different studies use the same measurements and questions, researchers can combine results, spot patterns, and accelerate the search for causes and treatments. This framework helps ensure that future research investments produce comparable, shareable data that benefits the entire patient community.
This study does not prove that any specific symptoms or tests can diagnose or measure ME/CFS severity. It does not establish the cause of GWI or ME/CFS, nor does it validate whether the recommended assessments are effective for tracking disease progression or treatment response—those determinations require separate clinical research. The study is organizational and methodological rather than evidence-based for clinical outcomes.
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
Cohen, Devra E, Sullivan, Kimberly A, McNeil, Rebecca B, Gulf War Illness Common Data Elements Working Group:, Symptoms Assessment Working Group:, McNeil, Rebecca B, et al. (2022). A common language for Gulf War Illness (GWI) research studies: GWI common data elements.. Life sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2021.119818
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-cohen-2022-common-language,
author = {Cohen, Devra E and Sullivan, Kimberly A and McNeil, Rebecca B and Gulf War Illness Common Data Elements Working Group: and Symptoms Assessment Working Group: and McNeil, Rebecca B and Ashford, Wes and Bested, Alison and Bunker, James and Cheema, Amanpreet and Cohen, Devra E and Cook, Dane and Cournoyer, Jeffrey and Craddock, Travis and Golier, Julia and Hardie, Anthony and Helmer, Drew and Lindheimer, Jacob B and Lloyd, Patricia Janulewicz and Kerr, Kathleen and Krengel, Maxine and Nadkarni, Shree and Nugent, Shannon and Paris, Bonnie and Reinhard, Matthew and Rumm, Peter and Schneiderman, Aaron and Sims, Kellie J and Steele, Lea and Turner, Marsha and Systems Assessment Working Group: and Sullivan, Kimberly A and Abdullah, Laila and Abreu, Maria and Abu-Donia, Mohamed and Aenlle, Kristina and Arocho, Jimmy and Balbin, Elizabeth and Baraniuk, James and Block, Karen and Block, Michelle and DeBeer, Bryann and Engdahl, Brian and Filipov, Nikolay and Fletcher, Mary Ann and Kalasinsky, Victor and Kokkotou, Efi and Lidie, Kristy and Little, Deborah and Loging, William and Morris, Marianna and Nathanson, Lubov and Nichols, Montra Denise and Pasinetti, Giulio and Shungu, Dikoma and Waziry, Paula and VanLeeuwen, Jon and Younger, Jarred},
title = {A common language for Gulf War Illness (GWI) research studies: GWI common data elements.},
journal = {Life sciences},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1016/j.lfs.2021.119818},
note = {PubMed: 34352259},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cohen-2022-common-language},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cohen-2022-common-language
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