Josev, Elisha K, Jackson, Melinda L, Bei, Bei et al. · Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2017 · DOI
This study examined sleep problems in teenagers with ME/CFS compared to healthy teenagers. Researchers found that teens with ME/CFS took longer to fall asleep, spent more total time in bed, slept longer overall, woke up later, and reported feeling their sleep was of poorer quality. Anxiety levels were also higher in the ME/CFS group and were connected to worse sleep quality in both groups.
Sleep disturbances are a core feature of ME/CFS, yet little objective data exists on sleep problems in pediatric populations. This study provides both objective (actigraphy) and subjective (questionnaire) evidence that adolescents with ME/CFS experience significant sleep dysfunction, establishing a clearer understanding of sleep disruption patterns that may inform treatment approaches and highlight the role of anxiety in sleep quality.
This study does not establish whether sleep disturbances cause ME/CFS symptoms, result from ME/CFS, or occur independently. It also cannot determine whether the observed anxiety causes poor sleep quality or whether both are separate consequences of ME/CFS. The cross-sectional design means cause-and-effect relationships cannot be determined from these findings alone.
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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