Kim, Laura, Kedor, Claudia, Buttgereit, Frank et al. · Journal of clinical medicine · 2023 · DOI
This study compared fatigue in people with Sjögren's syndrome (an autoimmune disease affecting moisture-producing glands) to fatigue in ME/CFS patients. While both groups experience severe tiredness, the researchers found important differences: Sjögren's patients recovered their muscle strength within an hour of activity, whereas ME/CFS patients typically experience worsening symptoms hours after exertion. Only a small portion of Sjögren's patients met ME/CFS diagnostic criteria, suggesting these are distinct conditions despite some symptom overlap.
This study helps clarify that severe fatigue in Sjögren's syndrome represents a distinct phenotype from ME/CFS, which is clinically important for accurate diagnosis and treatment planning. The finding that post-exertional malaise in Sjögren's differs fundamentally from ME/CFS (emotional vs. physical trigger, rapid vs. delayed recovery) helps researchers and clinicians distinguish between these conditions and may inform mechanistic understanding of ME/CFS pathophysiology.
This small cross-sectional study cannot establish causation or determine why these conditions differ mechanistically. The study does not prove that autoantibodies are unrelated to fatigue in ME/CFS, only that they correlate differently in pSS. It also cannot rule out that a subset of patients have overlapping pSS and ME/CFS rather than distinct conditions.
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, Laura, Kedor, Claudia, Buttgereit, Frank, Heidecke, Harald, Schaumburg, Desiree, & Scheibenbogen, Carmen (2023). Characterizing Sjögren-Associated Fatigue: A Distinct Phenotype from ME/CFS.. Journal of clinical medicine. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm12154994
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kim-2023-characterizing-gren,
author = {Kim, Laura and Kedor, Claudia and Buttgereit, Frank and Heidecke, Harald and Schaumburg, Desiree and Scheibenbogen, Carmen},
title = {Characterizing Sjögren-Associated Fatigue: A Distinct Phenotype from ME/CFS.},
journal = {Journal of clinical medicine},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.3390/jcm12154994},
note = {PubMed: 37568396},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kim-2023-characterizing-gren},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kim-2023-characterizing-gren
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