Institute of Medicine Committee on the Diagnostic Criteria for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome · National Academies Press · 2015 · DOI
The US Institute of Medicine reviewed over 9,000 scientific articles to establish new diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS. The report introduced SEID (Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease) as a proposed name and established that ME/CFS is a serious, chronic, complex systemic disease. New criteria require PEM, unrefreshing sleep, plus cognitive impairment or orthostatic intolerance.
This landmark report legitimized ME/CFS as a serious biological disease in the US healthcare system. By requiring PEM for diagnosis, it created a more specific case definition that reduces misdiagnosis. It has shifted clinical education and healthcare policy.
Diagnostic criteria cannot prove causation or guide treatment. The IOM report was a clinical synthesis, not an experimental study.
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
Institute of Medicine Committee on the Diagnostic Criteria for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (2015). Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Redefining an Illness. National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/19012
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-iom-2015-diagnostic-criteria,
author = {Institute of Medicine Committee on the Diagnostic Criteria for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome},
title = {Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Redefining an Illness},
journal = {National Academies Press},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.17226/19012},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/iom-2015-diagnostic-criteria},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/iom-2015-diagnostic-criteria
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