Hermisson, Joachim, Schreiner, Claudia, Weichselbaumer, Stefanie et al. · Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2026 · DOI
This guide describes practical home-care approaches for people severely affected by ME/CFS, developed by combining advice from patients and family caregivers with input from nursing, physiotherapy, and medical professionals. The guide addresses how to adjust daily care activities—such as nutrition, hygiene, and communication—to avoid overexertion and post-exertional malaise (PEM). However, because this is a compiled expert consensus rather than a systematic trial, the strength of evidence for each recommendation remains unclear.
This guideline addresses a critical care gap: most home care for severe ME/CFS is currently provided by family members with minimal professional support or structured guidance. By documenting practical measures associated with stability and reduced overexertion—reported by affected individuals and caregivers themselves—the guide may help both professional and family caregivers adapt their approach to the specific exertion thresholds characteristic of ME/CFS and PEM.
This guideline does not establish which specific care adjustments cause better outcomes, as it is a consensus document rather than a controlled trial. It does not quantify the magnitude of benefit or harm associated with any single recommendation. It does not replace individualised clinical assessment, nor does it determine which care measures are optimal for patients with varying disease severity or phenotypes.
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
Hermisson, Joachim, Schreiner, Claudia, Weichselbaumer, Stefanie, Werner, Marlene, Hackl, Verena, Roth, Jacob, et al. (2026). [Transdisciplinary Expert Statement: care guide for people severely affected by ME/CFS in home-based care].. Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10354-026-01155-6
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-hermisson-2026-transdisciplinary-expert,
author = {Hermisson, Joachim and Schreiner, Claudia and Weichselbaumer, Stefanie and Werner, Marlene and Hackl, Verena and Roth, Jacob and Leiss, Sandra and Maukner, Anna Christina and Wojczewski, Silvia and Hainzl, Astrid and Hermisson, Sabine and Thonhofer, Kevin and Pleschberger, Sabine and Hoffmann, Kathryn},
title = {[Transdisciplinary Expert Statement: care guide for people severely affected by ME/CFS in home-based care].},
journal = {Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946)},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1007/s10354-026-01155-6},
note = {PubMed: 42223876},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hermisson-2026-transdisciplinary-expert},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-06-07. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hermisson-2026-transdisciplinary-expert
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