Lee, Jihyun, Wall, Pelle, Kimler, Chris et al. · Work (Reading, Mass.) · 2020 · DOI
This study looked at how much time ME/CFS patients can spend upright (standing or walking around) each day and how this relates to dizziness and other symptoms caused by orthostatic intolerance—a condition where symptoms get worse when standing or being active. Researchers compared 25 women with ME/CFS to 25 healthy women and found that ME/CFS patients spend far fewer hours upright and experience much worse symptoms that interfere with daily life. The study suggests that measuring upright hours and asking patients about orthostatic symptoms could be helpful tools for doctors diagnosing and managing ME/CFS.
Many ME/CFS patients struggle with orthostatic symptoms that worsen with activity, but clinicians lack simple, standardized tools to assess this problem. This study validates that measuring upright hours and using questionnaires about orthostatic symptoms could help doctors better diagnose ME/CFS and track how treatment affects patients' ability to function. These accessible clinical tools may improve recognition and management of a key feature of ME/CFS that significantly impacts patients' lives.
This study shows correlation between reduced upright hours and orthostatic symptoms but does not prove that orthostatic intolerance directly causes reduced activity capacity—the relationship could be bidirectional or influenced by other factors. The small sample size (25 per group) and inclusion of only women limits generalizability to all ME/CFS patients. The study design cannot establish whether orthostatic intolerance is the primary driver of disability or one of multiple contributing factors in ME/CFS.
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
Lee, Jihyun, Wall, Pelle, Kimler, Chris, Bateman, Lucinda, & Vernon, Suzanne D (2020). Clinically accessible tools for documenting the impact of orthostatic intolerance on symptoms and function in ME/CFS.. Work (Reading, Mass.). https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-203169
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-lee-2020-clinically-accessible,
author = {Lee, Jihyun and Wall, Pelle and Kimler, Chris and Bateman, Lucinda and Vernon, Suzanne D},
title = {Clinically accessible tools for documenting the impact of orthostatic intolerance on symptoms and function in ME/CFS.},
journal = {Work (Reading, Mass.)},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.3233/WOR-203169},
note = {PubMed: 32568144},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/lee-2020-clinically-accessible},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/lee-2020-clinically-accessible
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.