Josev, Elisha K, Cole, Rebecca C, Scheinberg, Adam et al. · Journal of clinical medicine · 2021 · DOI
This study followed Australian teenagers with ME/CFS for about two years after diagnosis to see how they were doing. While many young people improved in mood and some symptoms, fatigue, pain, and overall quality of life stayed significantly worse compared to healthy teenagers. About two-thirds of the teens still had ME/CFS at follow-up, suggesting the condition often persists in the early years after diagnosis.
This study provides evidence that ME/CFS in adolescents often persists beyond the initial years following diagnosis, challenging potential misconceptions about adolescent prognosis. Understanding that fatigue, pain, and reduced quality of life are particularly persistent symptoms informs realistic clinical counseling and highlights the need for early intervention strategies in this population.
This study does not establish what causes ME/CFS or why some adolescents continue to meet criteria while others may recover more fully. The association between baseline pain and later criteria fulfillment is correlational, not causal, and results cannot be generalized beyond this Australian cohort or to adolescents diagnosed elsewhere. The study design cannot determine which interventions might improve prognosis.
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
Josev, Elisha K, Cole, Rebecca C, Scheinberg, Adam, Rowe, Katherine, Lubitz, Lionel, & Knight, Sarah J (2021). Health, Wellbeing, and Prognosis of Australian Adolescents with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A Case-Controlled Follow-Up Study.. Journal of clinical medicine. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10163603
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-josev-2021-health-wellbeing,
author = {Josev, Elisha K and Cole, Rebecca C and Scheinberg, Adam and Rowe, Katherine and Lubitz, Lionel and Knight, Sarah J},
title = {Health, Wellbeing, and Prognosis of Australian Adolescents with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A Case-Controlled Follow-Up Study.},
journal = {Journal of clinical medicine},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.3390/jcm10163603},
note = {PubMed: 34441898},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/josev-2021-health-wellbeing},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/josev-2021-health-wellbeing
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