Jason, Leonard A, Sunnquist, Madison · Frontiers in pediatrics · 2018 · DOI
Researchers created a questionnaire called the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire (DSQ) to help doctors and scientists consistently measure ME/CFS symptoms in patients. The questionnaire was refined over time and adapted for different groups, including children. This tool helps ensure that when people are diagnosed with ME/CFS, they're being assessed in the same way across different clinics and studies.
Having a standardized, validated tool to measure ME/CFS symptoms is essential for improving diagnosis accuracy and ensuring patients receive proper care. This questionnaire enables researchers worldwide to use consistent methods, making study results more comparable and strengthening the evidence base for ME/CFS. For patients, better diagnostic tools mean fewer delays in diagnosis and more reliable identification of who has the condition.
This study does not prove that any particular cause of ME/CFS has been identified, nor does it establish treatment effectiveness. It is a methodological study focused on measurement tools rather than disease mechanisms or clinical outcomes. The study also does not prove that using this questionnaire alone is sufficient for diagnosis without additional clinical evaluation.
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
Jason, Leonard A & Sunnquist, Madison (2018). The Development of the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire: Original, Expanded, Brief, and Pediatric Versions.. Frontiers in pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2018.00330
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-jason-2018-development-depaul,
author = {Jason, Leonard A and Sunnquist, Madison},
title = {The Development of the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire: Original, Expanded, Brief, and Pediatric Versions.},
journal = {Frontiers in pediatrics},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.3389/fped.2018.00330},
note = {PubMed: 30460215},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jason-2018-development-depaul},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jason-2018-development-depaul
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