Kuratsune, Hirohiko · Brain and nerve = Shinkei kenkyu no shinpo · 2018 · DOI
This document presents official diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS developed by Japanese health authorities in 2016. These criteria were designed to help doctors in primary care clinics recognize and diagnose ME/CFS more consistently. The document also summarizes current treatment approaches and expected outcomes based on practices at major medical centers in Japan.
Standardized diagnostic criteria are essential for ensuring ME/CFS patients receive timely and consistent diagnosis across different healthcare settings. Official clinical guidelines help reduce diagnostic delays and misclassification, enabling patients to access appropriate management sooner. This Japanese guideline contributes to international harmonization of ME/CFS diagnosis and treatment standards.
This guideline does not establish the biological causes or mechanisms of ME/CFS, nor does it present new treatment efficacy data from clinical trials. It does not prove that any particular treatment is curative or definitively effective—it describes current practices rather than validating their evidence base. The guideline represents consensus and institutional experience rather than rigorous experimental evidence.
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
Kuratsune, Hirohiko (2018). [Diagnosis and Treatment of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome].. Brain and nerve = Shinkei kenkyu no shinpo. https://doi.org/10.11477/mf.1416200944
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kuratsune-2018-diagnosis-treatment,
author = {Kuratsune, Hirohiko},
title = {[Diagnosis and Treatment of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome].},
journal = {Brain and nerve = Shinkei kenkyu no shinpo},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.11477/mf.1416200944},
note = {PubMed: 29348370},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kuratsune-2018-diagnosis-treatment},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kuratsune-2018-diagnosis-treatment
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