Collard, Sarah S, Murphy, Jane · Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community · 2020 · DOI
This review examined research on how to help children and teens with ME/CFS feel better through nutrition, exercise, and psychological support. The researchers found that exercise programs and a combination of treatments (including therapy, exercise, nutrition advice, and family support) helped reduce fatigue and improve school attendance. However, very few studies have looked at ME/CFS in younger children, so more research is needed.
Most ME/CFS research focuses on adults, leaving children and adolescents understudied despite the condition affecting up to 2% of the pediatric population. This review identifies which treatments show promise in youth and reveals critical research gaps, helping guide clinical management and future investigations into pediatric-specific interventions for this disabling illness.
This scoping review does not prove causation or establish definitive treatment efficacy—it synthesizes existing literature quality and highlights evidence gaps rather than conducting meta-analysis. The review cannot determine optimal dosing, long-term outcomes, or mechanisms of action, and findings in adolescents may not generalize to younger children. Heterogeneity in study designs and small sample sizes across included studies limit generalizable conclusions.
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
Collard, Sarah S & Murphy, Jane (2020). Management of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis in a pediatric population: A scoping review.. Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367493519864747
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-collard-2020-management-chronic,
author = {Collard, Sarah S and Murphy, Jane},
title = {Management of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis in a pediatric population: A scoping review.},
journal = {Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.1177/1367493519864747},
note = {PubMed: 31379194},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/collard-2020-management-chronic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/collard-2020-management-chronic
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