Langelaan, Maaike, de Boer, Michiel R, van Nispen, Ruth M A et al. · Ophthalmic epidemiology · 2007 · DOI
This study looked at how visual impairment affects people's quality of life by comparing visually impaired patients with healthy people and those with other chronic conditions. Researchers found that visual impairment has a significant negative impact on quality of life, affecting people's daily functioning. Interestingly, only a few conditions—including chronic fatigue syndrome—impacted quality of life more severely than visual impairment.
This study is relevant to ME/CFS research because it uses the same standardized HRQoL measurement tool (EQ-5D) to compare chronic conditions and explicitly identifies chronic fatigue syndrome as one of the few conditions with greater quality-of-life impact than visual impairment. This provides evidence for the severity of functional impairment in ME/CFS relative to other well-recognized chronic diseases, supporting the clinical recognition of ME/CFS as a serious disabling condition.
This study does not establish causation or mechanisms—it only describes and compares quality of life across conditions at a single time point. The study does not evaluate ME/CFS directly; it only cites published comparison data, so findings about ME/CFS severity rely on external sources rather than direct measurement in this cohort. The cross-sectional design cannot determine whether quality-of-life impacts persist over time or how they evolve.
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
Langelaan, Maaike, de Boer, Michiel R, van Nispen, Ruth M A, Wouters, Bill, Moll, Annette C, & van Rens, Ger H M B (2007). Impact of visual impairment on quality of life: a comparison with quality of life in the general population and with other chronic conditions.. Ophthalmic epidemiology. https://doi.org/10.1080/09286580601139212
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-langelaan-2007-impact-visual,
author = {Langelaan, Maaike and de Boer, Michiel R and van Nispen, Ruth M A and Wouters, Bill and Moll, Annette C and van Rens, Ger H M B},
title = {Impact of visual impairment on quality of life: a comparison with quality of life in the general population and with other chronic conditions.},
journal = {Ophthalmic epidemiology},
year = {2007},
doi = {10.1080/09286580601139212},
note = {PubMed: 17613846},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/langelaan-2007-impact-visual},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/langelaan-2007-impact-visual
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