Jason, L A, Taylor, S L, Johnson, S et al. · Evaluation & the health professions · 1993 · DOI
This study looked at how common ME/CFS-related symptoms are among nurses. Researchers surveyed a group of nurses and found that when using different definitions of the illness, more nurses showed signs of ME/CFS than had been found in previous studies of the general population. This was the first study to specifically examine ME/CFS in healthcare workers.
This was the first epidemiological study to focus on ME/CFS in a specific occupational population, suggesting that healthcare workers may experience disproportionately high rates of ME/CFS-related symptoms. These findings highlight occupational health concerns and may help identify at-risk populations that warrant further investigation and support.
This study does not prove that nursing work causes ME/CFS, only that symptoms appear more frequently in this population. The cross-sectional design cannot establish temporal relationships or rule out confounding factors. The varying prevalence rates based on different diagnostic criteria also suggest the challenge of defining ME/CFS, rather than confirming true disease prevalence.
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 →
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