Hall, Daniel L, Antoni, Michael H, Lattie, Emily G et al. · Fatigue : biomedicine, health & behavior · 2015 · DOI
This study compared how fatigue affects daily life in people with ME/CFS versus breast cancer survivors who experience fatigue. The researchers found that ME/CFS patients reported more severe fatigue and more depression than the cancer survivors. Importantly, in ME/CFS patients, higher depression was closely tied to greater fatigue-related problems in daily activities, suggesting that mood and fatigue interference may be connected in ways worth exploring for treatment.
This study provides direct evidence that ME/CFS patients experience a stronger relationship between depression and fatigue-related functional impairment compared to another fatigued population, suggesting ME/CFS fatigue may have distinct psychosocial features. Understanding these disease-specific patterns could guide development of targeted interventions and help distinguish ME/CFS from other fatigue conditions, improving diagnosis and treatment.
This study does not establish causation—it cannot determine whether depression causes fatigue interference, fatigue interference causes depression, or whether both stem from a common ME/CFS-related mechanism. The cross-sectional design captured only a single time point, so it cannot track how these relationships evolve over time. Additionally, results are limited to female patients and may not generalize to male ME/CFS populations.
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
Hall, Daniel L, Antoni, Michael H, Lattie, Emily G, Jutagir, Devika R, Czaja, Sara J, Perdomo, Dolores, et al. (2015). Perceived Fatigue Interference and Depressed Mood: Comparison of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Patients with Fatigued Breast Cancer Survivors.. Fatigue : biomedicine, health & behavior. https://doi.org/10.1080/21641846.2015.1039289
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-hall-2015-perceived-fatigue,
author = {Hall, Daniel L and Antoni, Michael H and Lattie, Emily G and Jutagir, Devika R and Czaja, Sara J and Perdomo, Dolores and Lechner, Suzanne C and Stagl, Jamie M and Bouchard, Laura C and Gudenkauf, Lisa M and Traeger, Lara and Fletcher, MaryAnn and Klimas, Nancy G},
title = {Perceived Fatigue Interference and Depressed Mood: Comparison of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Patients with Fatigued Breast Cancer Survivors.},
journal = {Fatigue : biomedicine, health & behavior},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1080/21641846.2015.1039289},
note = {PubMed: 26180660},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hall-2015-perceived-fatigue},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hall-2015-perceived-fatigue
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