Kim, Jung-Eun, Seo, Byung-Kwan, Choi, Jin-Bong et al. · Trials · 2015 · DOI
This study tested whether acupuncture—a traditional practice involving thin needles inserted into the skin—could help people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and related fatigue conditions. Researchers divided 150 patients into three groups: two received different types of acupuncture for 4 weeks along with their usual care, while one group continued usual care alone. The acupuncture groups showed some improvements in fatigue, stress, and pain compared to the usual care group.
ME/CFS patients have limited treatment options and often seek complementary therapies; this study provides controlled evidence that acupuncture may reduce fatigue severity and improve stress and pain outcomes. Understanding accessible adjunctive treatments is important for patient-centered care, particularly when standard medical interventions remain ineffective.
This study does not establish that acupuncture is an effective standalone treatment or clarifies the biological mechanism by which it might work in ME/CFS. The non-blinded design introduces placebo bias and social desirability effects, and the study does not distinguish treatment effects from expectation; results may not generalize to ME/CFS populations outside East Asia or to more severely affected patients.
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
Kim, Jung-Eun, Seo, Byung-Kwan, Choi, Jin-Bong, Kim, Hyeong-Jun, Kim, Tae-Hun, Lee, Min-Hee, et al. (2015). Acupuncture for chronic fatigue syndrome and idiopathic chronic fatigue: a multicenter, nonblinded, randomized controlled trial.. Trials. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-015-0857-0
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kim-2015-acupuncture-chronic,
author = {Kim, Jung-Eun and Seo, Byung-Kwan and Choi, Jin-Bong and Kim, Hyeong-Jun and Kim, Tae-Hun and Lee, Min-Hee and Kang, Kyung-Won and Kim, Joo-Hee and Shin, Kyung-Min and Lee, Seunghoon and Jung, So-Young and Kim, Ae-Ran and Shin, Mi-Suk and Jung, Hee-Jung and Park, Hyo-Ju and Kim, Sung-Phil and Baek, Yong-Hyeon and Hong, Kwon-Eui and Choi, Sun-Mi},
title = {Acupuncture for chronic fatigue syndrome and idiopathic chronic fatigue: a multicenter, nonblinded, randomized controlled trial.},
journal = {Trials},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1186/s13063-015-0857-0},
note = {PubMed: 26211002},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kim-2015-acupuncture-chronic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kim-2015-acupuncture-chronic
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