Jason, Leonard A, McManimen, Stephanie, Sunnquist, Madison et al. · Neurology (E-Cronicon) · 2017
This study compared two groups of people with ME/CFS: those who met the official Institute of Medicine diagnostic criteria, and those who met those same criteria plus also had fibromyalgia (a condition involving widespread pain and tender points). The researchers found that patients with both ME/CFS and fibromyalgia experienced more severe symptoms and greater functional impairment across many areas than those with ME/CFS alone.
This research helps clarify whether ME/CFS patients who also have fibromyalgia represent a distinct, more severely affected subgroup. Better understanding patient heterogeneity is crucial for designing more focused clinical trials and potentially tailoring treatment approaches to patient subpopulations with different characteristics and severity levels.
This study does not establish that fibromyalgia causes greater ME/CFS severity, nor does it prove that adding fibromyalgia to diagnostic criteria would improve clinical diagnosis or outcomes. The cross-sectional design prevents determination of whether these patients developed both conditions simultaneously or sequentially. The study also cannot determine whether the increased impairment is due to FM, ME/CFS, or their interaction.
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 →
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.