Goldenberg, D L · Current opinion in rheumatology · 1992
This review examined research published on fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, looking at what treatments work best and how these conditions are diagnosed. Researchers found that while many studies have been done, no single treatment has proven highly effective for either condition, and the way doctors diagnose chronic fatigue syndrome needs to be improved and made more consistent.
This work highlights a critical gap in ME/CFS research: the lack of effective treatments and inconsistent diagnostic criteria that complicate both clinical practice and research comparison across studies. Establishing uniform diagnostic standards is essential for identifying which treatments truly work and understanding how ME/CFS relates to fibromyalgia and myofascial pain.
This review does not establish which specific treatments might be effective—only that existing therapies at the time had limited success. It also does not prove that fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and myofascial pain are the same condition, only that their overlap requires further investigation with better diagnostic criteria.
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
Goldenberg, D L (1992). Fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and myofascial pain syndromes.. Current opinion in rheumatology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1581154/
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-goldenberg-1992-fibromyalgia-chronic,
author = {Goldenberg, D L},
title = {Fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and myofascial pain syndromes.},
journal = {Current opinion in rheumatology},
year = {1992},
note = {PubMed: 1581154},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/goldenberg-1992-fibromyalgia-chronic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/goldenberg-1992-fibromyalgia-chronic
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